Testing (continued):
Thermal Testing:
With performance testing completed, the GPU thermal properties were tested next. This was accomplished by running CPUID's HWMonitor 1.10 (64-Bit) within Windows Vista Home Premium (64-Bit). The idle condition was established by letting the system sit at the Window's desktop for at least 30 minutes with no other applications running. The load condition was established by running 3DMark Vantage two times back-to-back. HWMonitor logs current, minimum, and maximum temperature, so the current temperature was recorded before 3DMark was started, and once both rounds of testing were completed, the maximum temperature was recorded (lower is better for all results).
All testing was completed on an open testbed in a room with an ambient temperature of 21C. The results indicate that the TOP 9600GT starts out rather cool, and even under a heavy load it never gets too hot. Under a load it is cooler than the 3850 by five degrees, and cooler than the 3870 by eighteen degrees.
Power Consumption Testing:
The final test was to monitor the total system power consumption to see what impact each card would have. A Seasonic Power Angel power monitoring device was plugged inline between the power supply and wall out, and the Wattage screen was monitored. All other hardware was kept the same, so any change in the Wattage value would be the result of the video card's demands. Idle conditions were established by letting the system sit at the Windows desktop for about three minutes so that a stable reading was achieved after booting up. Load conditions seem to max out higher on DirectX 9 applications as opposed to DirectX 10 applications, so the DirectX 9 version of the Devil May Cry benchmark was run. Lower total system power consumption is better, and what we see is that all three cards are rather evenly matched. The TOP 9600GT draws the most at idle (barely), but it makes up for that when under a load.
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