Best power efficiency to speed ratio?

B

Bulletproof

Weaksauce
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Mar 3, 2003
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I'm looking to get the best power efficiency I can get from a video card while still having the best performance I can. It seems the new GeForce series does not seem to be much faster than the 8800 series, but has the power efficiency improved?
 
from what i've seen, i would say the 9600GT has the best power efficiency to performance ratio.
 
Power efficiency is the same as the 8800gt and 8800GTS, because they use the same core. Maybe underclock a 9600gt, and use a passive cooler?
 
bholstege said:
Power efficiency is the same as the 8800gt and 8800GTS, because they use the same core. Maybe underclock a 9600gt, and use a passive cooler?
Click to expand...

Actually, they do not use the same core. The 8800GT and GTS use the G92, while the 9600GT uses a custom core with roughly half the SPs and texture units. This results in about 20w less power consumption than the 8800GT (measured at the card, not at the wall, so this is REAL consumption of the card itself).

power = frequency * capacitive load * voltage^2

Both the 8800GT and 9600GT use the same process (65nm), and the same 3D core voltage (1.15v). In addition, the 9600GT trades fewer shader units (less load) for faster-clocked shader units (more frequency), yielding about the same performance level and load as the 8800GT.

This means the 20w power consumption difference must be coming from the reduced texture units. Now, in my mind, if you don't need them to achieve peak performance, then tossing the excess is certainly an efficiency increase. Me, I'm just glad I have an upgrade option that uses no more power than my old 7900GT, but offers much more performance!

To sum up:

The 8800GTS 512 and GT are more efficient than the first-generation 8800-series cards. The 9600GT is even more efficient, because it ditches some units that only help performance in a handful of games.
 
I think he was answering this from the OP's question.
It seems the new GeForce series does not seem to be much faster than the 8800 series, but has the power efficiency improved?
Click to expand...
 
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