Power Consumption
For calculating power consumption, we used a Kill-A-Watt meter to deduce the subjective estimated idle and peak load numbers for the tested graphics cards.
Our results were based on the following tests:
- Idle – Windows 7 Aero sitting at the desktop (1920×1080, 32-bit) with 15 minutes of idle operation and stabilization.
- Peak – 3DMark Fire Strike Benchmark at 1920×1080 and default preset with the highest single reading recorded during the test.
It seems that GIGABYTE has done some fine tuning as the idle power consumption is several Watts lower than that of the average reference R9 290X. While the R9 290X’s power consumption seems on the high side, it is still a bit lower than say the Radeon HD 7990, which only offers ~15% more performance over the R9 290X graphics card.
Like power consumption, gamers and computer enthusiasts have become more aware of acoustical properties and tolerate noise a bit less than say a decade ago. For noise testing, we simply placed an off-the-shelf Digital Sound Level Meter (accurate to +/- 1.5dB) approximately 100cm and directly in front of our chassis with the side panel off and pointed directly at the graphics card with all case fans unplugged and the CPU cooler set to silent mode in the motherboard’s BIOS.
We also switched between the two different BIOSes installed on this R9 290X since they have slightly different fan profiles. GIGABYTE has definitely taken care of the original reference version’s issue with noise as this R9 290X has a reasonable noise level.
Like power consumption and noise levels, gamers and computer enthusiasts have become more aware of thermal properties and definitely take all of these into consideration when making a purchase. For temperature testing, we simply record the highest temperature from a run of the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark test from Futuremark
We also switched between the two different BIOSes installed on this R9 290X since they have slightly different fan profiles. GIGABYTE has definitely taken care of the original reference version’s temperature issues with noise as well as we did not record a value higher than 78 degrees Celsius. What is interesting is the difference of 1dB between our two BIOSes and the jump in temperatures. It is definitely worth it to stick with the performance BIOS in our case since the temperature change only attributed to 1 additional dB.
Now that we have put the R9 290X through these additional tests, let us crank it up a notch and find out what overclocking abilities that this graphics card has in store for us.
