Featured

ASUS STRIX R9 380 2GB Graphics Card Review

Noise, Power Consumption and Temperatures


Noise

Everyone has their own reasonable noise level when it comes to comes to components in a computer. Some can handle all fans at 100% load to keep temperatures down, some want a completely silent computer.

Something that has been introduced on this series, at reasonable load, the graphics cards can run passively. Even at full load, the STRIX cooler performs very well.

Power Consumption

With electricity becoming increasingly expensive across most parts of the world the need for computer components to become power efficient has never been more relevant. Graphics cards are often the most power-hungry components inside a desktop system so having an efficient graphics card is very important to keeping power bills under control. Power is often correlated to heat and so lower power consumption means a graphics card is likely to run slightly cooler and put out less heat into your system meaning your other components will run cooler with improved longevity. AMD and Nvidia have both made power consumption an integral part of the way graphics cards dynamically overclock so the need for graphics card vendors to use efficient VRM and PCB designs is becoming important to maximise performance. We take power readings after 5 minutes of two different load scenarios: desktop idle and Unigine Heaven load.

Something that AMD were never good at, power. The new manufacturing process introduced by ASUS proves to save a little bit of power.

Temperatures

The cooling solution which graphics card vendors choose to implement is one of the main differences that consumers have to contend with when choosing a graphics cards. Apart from their acoustic properties, the thermal properties of graphics card coolers are extremely important. Lower temperatures are always better and with AMD and Nvidia opting to use dynamic overclocking algorithms that take temperature into account it is important that graphics card vendors use high performance cooling solutions in order to maximise performance. The era of graphics cards reaching dangerous temperatures are now in the past but the importance of lower temperatures still remains. Lower temperatures mean better stability, longer component longevity and lower fan speeds .We take temperature readings after 5 minutes of two different load scenarios: desktop idle and Unigine Heaven load. We always record actual temperatures and make a note of the ambient; in the case where more than 1 GPU is used an average is created.

The STRIX cooler is not only whisper quiet, but combined with the lower power consumption provides lower temperatures.

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Rikki Wright

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

Lamplighters League Has Hit a New Low on Steam

The Lamplighters League had such potential when it was first announced as an XCOM-style turn-based…

3 days ago

Intel’s New Driver Targets Overheating in Revolutionary PCIe Gen 6 SSDs

Intel is pushing the boundaries with its next-generation SSDs but facing significant challenges with overheating.…

3 days ago

Bill Gates Misjudged Apple’s iPod and iPhone Futures in 2005 Prediction

In a notable 2005 interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Microsoft co-founder Bill…

3 days ago

The Rogue Prince of Persia Sets New Launch Date

The highly anticipated The Rogue Prince of Persia is set to launch this May. Evil…

3 days ago

Helldivers Situation Does Not Look Good, Says CEO

Sony has done a good job at ruining the name of Helldivers 2 and has…

3 days ago

Kolink Unity Code X Midi-Tower ARGB Gaming Case

Clever Dual chamber design makes cable management a breeze Umbra Void 120mm ARGB fan comes…

3 days ago