GeForce GTX 275 Roundup (Gigabyte, EVGA, MSI, Sparkle, BFG)

Power Consumption

For this test we hooked up our power supply to a UPM power meter that will log the power consumption of the whole system twice every second. In order to stress the GPU as much as possible we once again use the Batch Render test in 3DMark06 and let it run for 30 minutes to determine the peak power consumption while letting the card sit at a stable Windows desktop for 30 minutes to determine the peak idle power consumption. We have also included several other tests as well. Please note that after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage. Thus we use a Tripp-Lite 1800W line conditioner between the 120V outlet and the power meter.


In the power consumption tests we see that the old adage that more speed means higher power consumption hold true for the majority of the cards. What was impressive was the fact that the EVGA FTW was able to compete with a GTX 285 and yet proved to be more efficient at load. As in the temperature testing, Gigabyte’s boast of their Ultra Durable design was put to the test and was left wanting. Granted, Gigabyte only mentioned that switching power loss would be improved and the overclocked memory may have worked against them but in the past the UD VGA cards did indeed have better overall efficiency. Not this time though.

MSI once again surprised us with the efficiency of their card. It is overclocked to one of the higher core speeds of in this roundup and yet it proves to be almost as efficient as the reference GTX 275.