Mantle, power consumption
We can run Battlefield 4 with the Mantle API for all combinations other than the Intel IGP. The numbers paint an interesting picture insofar as Mantle doesn't provide the 10 per cent-plus uplift we were expecting. The obvious reason for this is that the GPUs aren't powerful enough to take advantage of the CPU-freeing attributes of Mantle. Indeed, the API is actually slower when running the Sapphire R7 250 alone.
Nothing much in the idle power-draw stakes. 30W is barely tickling our 760W PSU.
Full-on power consumption is the highest figure we see when running GRID 2. Running Dual Graphics adds just 24W to the overall figure. A 300W PSU is more than ample for a mainstream system. Sapphire's card is practically silent, too, with the fan speed barely increasing under load.
