TEMPERATURE & POWER CONSUMPTION
To measure both power consumption and heat, we stress the video card and record the peak values for heat and wattage. We use default values on the cards and stress test them using a mix of Kombustor Dx11 Burn-In Test with Post-FX.
We’ve already taken a look at the HD7870 before and this is a great chance to compare the improvements in terms of cooling and power draw. Power consumption looks to be about the same with ASUS pushing 20Mhz more from the R9 270X for about >1 watt additional load. Temperature is where its all at and that new cooler from ASUS is proving its not just a revised shroud, shedding off some nice load temps compared to its last-gen incarnation. Idle temps is higher though but this can be attributed to the lower fan speeds.