Power, temps, and noise
Radeon HD 7000-series cards have set a new benchmark with respect to power-draw for a given level of gaming performance. Now using the same comparisons as on the previous six pages, HD 7850 pulls considerably fewer watts, evaluated as a system, when compared to HD 6950 or either GTX 560 Ti. The same is true of the HD 7870's GTX 580/570 and HD 6970 comparisons.
Idle power-draw also drops by a further 8W in ZeroCore mode, where the screen is switched off.
Low-ish power-draw and a solid reference cooler combine to ensure that temps aren't a problem.
Both Pitcairns are also pretty quiet when gaming. Really, we await to see just how quiet partners are able to make their own cards.
