Power consumption
Power consumption
Lets have a look at how much power draw we measure with these graphics cards installed.
The methodology: We have a device constantly monitoring the power draw from the PC. We simply stress the GPU, not the processor. The before and after wattage will tell us roughly how much power a graphics card is consuming under load.
Our test system is based on a power hungry Core i7 965 / X58 based. This setup is overclocked to 3.75 GHz. Next to that we have energy saving functions disabled for this motherboard and processor (to ensure consistent benchmark results). On average we are using roughly 50 to 100 Watts more than a standard PC due to higher CPU clock settings, water-cooling, additional cold cathode lights etc.
Keep that in mind. Our normal system power consumption is higher than your average system.
| Graphics card | GPU Idle | GPU LOAD |
| Power Color R5770 Single slot x1 | 174 | 255 |
| Power Color R5770 Single slot x2 | 191 | 353 |
| Power Color R5770 Single slot x3 | 206 | 420 |
| Power Color R5770 Single slot x4 | 235 | 522 |
Measured power consumption one card
- Advertised TDP = 108W (1024MB)
- System in IDLE = 174W
- System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 255W
- Difference (GPU load) = 81 W
- Add average IDLE wattage ~ 18W (ATI specified)
- Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 99 Watts
Measured power consumption two cards
- Advertised TDP = 108W (1024MB)
- System in IDLE = 191W
- System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 353W
- Difference (GPU load) = 162 W
- Add average IDLE wattage x2 ~ 36W (ATI specified)
- Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 198 Watts
Measured power consumption three cards
- Advertised TDP = 108W (1024MB)
- System in IDLE = 206W
- System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 420W
- Difference (GPU load) = 214 W
- Add average IDLE wattage x3 ~ 54W (ATI specified)
- Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 268 Watts
Measured power consumption four cards
- Advertised TDP = 108W (1024MB)
- System in IDLE = 235W
- System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 522W
- Difference (GPU load) = 287 W
- Add average IDLE wattage x4 ~ 72W (ATI specified)
- Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 359 Watts
Mind you that the System Wattage is measured from the wall socket and is for the entire PC. Also measuring Multi-GPU setup is very tricky with IDLE states, so please see this as an indication.
Below a chart of measured Wattages per card. Overall this us much higher than reference, this is due to an increase GPU voltage to allow easy overclocking and the standard higher clock frequencies.
Power Consumption Cost Analysis
Based on the Wattage we can now check how much a card like today will cost you per year and per month. We charge 0,23 EUR cent (or dollar) per KWh (which is higher than the EU average).
| Graphics card x1 | TDP in KWh | KWh price | 2 hrs day | 4 hrs day |
| Graphics card measured TDP | 0,099 | 0,23 | 0,05 | 0,09 |
| Cost 5 days per week / 4 hrs day | 0,46 | |||
| Cost per Month | 1,97 | |||
| Cost per Year 5 days week / 4 hrs day | 23,68 |
Graphics card x2 TDP in KWh KWh price 2 hrs day 4 hrs dayGraphics card measured TDP 0,198 0,23 0,09 0,18 Cost 5 days per week / 4 hrs day 0,91 Cost per Month 3,95 Cost per Year 5 days week / 4 hrs day 47,36
Graphics card x3 TDP in KWh KWh price 2 hrs day 4 hrs dayGraphics card measured TDP 0,268 0,23 0,12 0,25 Cost 5 days per week / 4 hrs day 1,23 Cost per Month 5,34 Cost per Year 5 days week / 4 hrs day 64,11
Graphics card x4 TDP in KWh KWh price 2 hrs day 4 hrs dayGraphics card measured TDP 0,359 0,23 0,17 0,33 Cost 5 days per week / 4 hrs day 1,65 Cost per Month 7,16 Cost per Year 5 days week / 4 hrs day 85,87
We estimate and calculate here based on four hours GPU intensive gaming per day / 5 days a week with this card. Also make not of the fact that we explain what the GPU setup is costing you, not the entire PC power consumption.
The 1024MB models have more active ROPs and memory to feed, their power consumption as such is a little higher. Next to that you can clearly see that the faster clocked models have a higher power consumption.
Recommended Power Supply
Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation:
Radeon HD 5770 x1
- On your average system the card requires you to have a 450 Watt power supply unit.
Radeon HD 5770 x2
- A second card requires you to add another ~100 Watts. You need a 550 Watt power supply unit.
Radeon HD 5770 x3
- A 3rd card requires you to add another ~200 Watts. You need a 650 Watt power supply unit.
Radeon HD 5770 x4
- A 4th card requires you to add another ~300 Watts. You need a 750 Watt power supply unit at minimum.
The more you overclock and tweak, the more power you will use, adapt to that, we always advise you to get a power supply that is more capable then you'll use, have some reserves, please, do not let a PSU be a limitation.
There are many good PSUs out there, please do have a look at our many PSU reviews as we have loads of recommended PSUs for you to check out in there. What would happen if your PSU can't cope with the load?:
- bad 3D performance
- crashing games
- spontaneous reset or imminent shutdown of the PC
- freezing during gameplay
- PSU overload can cause it to break down
Let's move to the next page where we'll look into GPU heat levels and noise levels coming from this graphics card.
