Power consumption, temperatures, plus a closer look
Running a single Dell 3007WFP monitor, the two GTX 470 cards chew through an additional 44W when compared with Radeon HD 5870s.
But the FurMark power-draw is over 100W higher than the comparison Radeons.
The
noted temperatures correspond to the upper card in the chassis, which
runs warmer than the lower card due to the lack of room between the
two.
Further examination
Examining the whole noise/heat/power issue in more detail and taking a real-world game into account, we played through Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and noted where system-wide power-draw was highest. The game works the CPU's cores and gives the GPU(s) a good going over. We then left the card rendering the high power-draw scene for 10 minutes and logged the maximum temperature, fan-speed, and power-draw.
The observations were noted with the card(s) installed inside a Corsair Obsidian 700D chassis with side panels on. The 'upper' (hotter) card's temperature and fan-speed are noted if we're evaluating a multi-GPU setup. The table, below, highlights our findings and provides a subjective analysis of the fan noise.
Let's explain the table. The noise perception is a subjective rating out of ten for the quietness of the card when under gaming load. Simple rpm don't always tell the full story. The HD 5870 TOXIC and HD 5850 win out here, helped by the fan spinning relatively slowly due to low-ish temps.
There are two figures for the GeForce GTX 4x0 GPUs. The first fan speed/noise relates to the card's standard settings. We reckon the fan-speed settings are too conservative and let the GPU hit close to 100°C. With that in mind, we manually change the fan speed and increase it to ensure the GPUs keep below 80°C. This is why the GeForce GTX 400-series cards' fans spin up and push the noise profile up, and the Radeons win out here.
Housed inside an enthusiast-class chassis, there is no question in our mind that the GeForce GTX 470 SLI duo are noticeably louder than the Radeon HD 5870 XF pair.
Further examination
Examining the whole noise/heat/power issue in more detail and taking a real-world game into account, we played through Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and noted where system-wide power-draw was highest. The game works the CPU's cores and gives the GPU(s) a good going over. We then left the card rendering the high power-draw scene for 10 minutes and logged the maximum temperature, fan-speed, and power-draw.
The observations were noted with the card(s) installed inside a Corsair Obsidian 700D chassis with side panels on. The 'upper' (hotter) card's temperature and fan-speed are noted if we're evaluating a multi-GPU setup. The table, below, highlights our findings and provides a subjective analysis of the fan noise.
| GPU | Power-draw (maximum) | Temperature (maximum) |
Fan speed (maximum) |
Quietness /10 |
| GeForce GTX 470 SLI | 532W | 94°C/86°C | 2,650rpm/3,500rpm | 3.5/2 |
| GeForce GTX 470 | 354W | 94°C | 2,350rpm/3,290rpm | 5/3 |
| GeForce GTX 480 | 419W | 94°C | 2,720rpm/3,785rpm | 4/2 |
| Radeon HD 5870 XF | 435W | 84°C | 2,700rpm | 4.5 |
| Radeon HD 5850 XF | 371W | 83°C | 2,520rpm | 4.5 |
| Radeon HD 5970 | 366W | 77°C | 2,460rpm | 5 |
| Radeon HD 5870 TOXIC | 324W | 66°C | 1,950rpm | 7 |
| Radeon HD 5870 | 288W | 76°C | 2,350rpm | 6 |
| Radeon HD 5850 | 260W | 63°C | 1,650rpm | 7 |
Let's explain the table. The noise perception is a subjective rating out of ten for the quietness of the card when under gaming load. Simple rpm don't always tell the full story. The HD 5870 TOXIC and HD 5850 win out here, helped by the fan spinning relatively slowly due to low-ish temps.
There are two figures for the GeForce GTX 4x0 GPUs. The first fan speed/noise relates to the card's standard settings. We reckon the fan-speed settings are too conservative and let the GPU hit close to 100°C. With that in mind, we manually change the fan speed and increase it to ensure the GPUs keep below 80°C. This is why the GeForce GTX 400-series cards' fans spin up and push the noise profile up, and the Radeons win out here.
Housed inside an enthusiast-class chassis, there is no question in our mind that the GeForce GTX 470 SLI duo are noticeably louder than the Radeon HD 5870 XF pair.