ComputerBase has shared new tests that suggest idle power draw in AMD RDNA 2 and RDNA 3 GPUs can be reduced dramatically simply by enabling Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). The Radeon RX 7900 XTX, in particular, draws up to 81% and 71% less idle power in single- and dual-monitor configurations with VRR, according to a table of measurements that the publication shared. “High idle power has situationally been observed when using select multi-display setups with mixed high-resolution and high refresh rate displays on Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs,” AMD continues to warn in its driver release notes.
AMD Radeon Power Measurements
| 4K144 desktop idle | 4K144 dual monitor | 4K144 window movement | 4K144 YT, SDR, 60fps | 4K144 YT, HDR, 60fps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radeon RX 6700 XT Old measurement | 34 watts | 34 watts | 43 watts | 40 watts | 45 watts |
| Radeon RX 6700 XT New measurement | 8 watts (-76 percent) | 34 watts (+-0 percent) | 41 watts (-5 percent) | 38 watts (-5 percent) | 43 watts (-4 percent) |
| GeForce RTX 3060 Ti old measurement | 18 watts | 24 watts | 43 watts | 27 watts | 42 watts |
| GeForce RTX 3060 Ti New measurement | 17 watts (-5 percent) | 24 watts (+-0 percent) | 38 watts (-12 percent) | 28 watts (+4 percent) | 36 watts (-14 percent) |
| Arc A770 Old measurement | 44 watts | 46 watts | 56 watts | 59 watts | 69 watts |
| Arc A770 New measurement | 48 watts (+9 percent) | 50 watts (+9 percent) | 62 watts (+11 percent) | 59 watts (+-0 percent) | 66 watts (-4 percent) |
| Radeon RX 6800 XT Old Measurement | 43 watts | 43 watts | 54 watts | 49 watts | 52 watts |
| Radeon RX 6800 XT New measurement | 9 watts (-79 percent) | 43 watts (+-0 percent) | 45 watts (-17 percent) | 47 watts (-4 percent) | 51 watts (-2 percent) |
| GeForce RTX 3080 old measurement | 21 watts | 23 watts | 50 watts | 33 watts | 48 watts |
| GeForce RTX 3080 New measurement | 24 watts (+14 percent) | 31 watts (+35 percent) | 45 watts (-10 percent) | 34 watts (+3 percent) | 43 watts (-11 percent) |
| Radeon RX 7900 XTX Old measurement | 104 watts | 105 watts | 111 watts | 72 watts | 109 watts |
| Radeon RX 7900 XTX New measurement | 20 watts (-81 percent) | 30 watts (-71 percent) | 71 watts (-36 percent) | 68 watts (-5 percent) | 75 watts (-31 percent) |
| GeForce RTX 4080 old measurement | 16 watts | 25 watts | 36 watts | 26 watts | 38 watts |
| GeForce RTX 4080 New measurement | 20 watts (+25 percent) | 28 watts (+12 percent) | 36 watts (+-0 percent) | 27 watts (+4 percent) | 40 watts (+5 percent) |
The new results of the power consumption measurements on the Windows desktop are a real surprise. The fact that all AMD graphics cards require massively less electrical power on this Windows desktop depending on the scenario by activating Adaptive Sync in the driver, but not in Windows for the Windows desktop, was not expected and has not been confirmed to date explain, but the numbers don’t lie. AMD has yet to respond.