Gigabyte GV-N250OC-1GI GeForce GTS 250
Power Consumption
We'd like to cover a few final data points before bringing this article to a close. Throughout all of our benchmarking and testing, we monitored how much power our test systems were consuming using a power meter. Our goal was to give you an idea as to how much power each configuration used while idling and under a heavy workload. Please keep in mind that we were testing total system power consumption at the outlet here, not just the power being drawn by the motherboards alone.
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Even when it comes down to power consumption, we find that the GTS 250 and HD 4850 are joined at the hip. At idle, the GTS 250 is pulling down 2 Watts or so less than the HD 4850, and was the lowest consumer of the entire group. Placed under load, the tables are slightly reversed, with the HD 4850 becoming the most power-friendly card we tested.
Since we're on the subject of power consumption, which is related to heat, we should also talk for a moment about the Zalman cooler used on Gigabyte's GTS 250. As shown in the graph above, the temperatures we recorded were by far the lowest of any of the cards we used. Throw in the near silent operation of the Zalman VF1050 and we've got a win-win situation for the GV-N250OC-1GI.
