Power and Temperature
To test the power and temperature we perform a manual run-through in Cyberpunk 2077 at “Ultra” settings for real-world in-game data. We use GPU-Z sensor data to record the results. We report on the GPU-Z sensor data for “Board Power” and “GPU Chip Power” when available for our Wattage data. For temperature data, we report the GPU (Edge Temp of the GPU or Package Temp) as well as Hot Spot (Junction Temperature) when available for our temperature data.
There are some holes in the power data, due to GPUz or the GPU not supporting the metric, for example, the Radeon RX 6800 XT lacks Board Power Draw, and the Radeon RX 7800 XT lacks GPU Chip Power Draw.
Overall, AMD claims the Total Board Power of the Radeon RX 7800 XT is up to 263W. We included the reference made-by-AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT in the graph above so you can compare it with the power draw on the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 7800 XT Gaming OC. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC has a total board power draw of 273W, which exceeds the reference power draw by 7%. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC runs with a higher boost clock since it is factory overclocked, and that does boost the power demand as well. This means it will pull more power than even the Radeon RX 6800 XT.
When we overclocked it, the total board power rose to 300W, even though we did not see a meaningful performance increase. The power demand from overclocking relative to the performance increase, doesn’t seem worth it. It would probably be best just to go with the default out-of-box factory overclock, and not boost the power target at all with this video card, you are already getting the maximum performance out of it at 273W.
By comparison, the GeForce RTX 4070 is an incredibly efficient GPU on power demand.
We also included the reference made-by-AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT in the temperature results above so you can compare the temperatures of the custom cooling on the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC with it. The reference Radeon RX 7800 XT runs quite hot, especially on the Hot Spot temperature at 94c. The custom cooling of the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC does an impressive job keeping the Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU cool here. The SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC has a much reduced Hot Spot temperature of just 88c, 6 full degrees less. The package temperature is also a lot lower at 58c instead of 73c on the reference Radeon RX 7800 XT.
With these temperatures, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC is actually the coolest running video card here running even cooler than the GeForce RTX 4070 on package temp. When we overclocked the video card we maxed the fans out, and that really reduced the temperatures down to 49c package temp and 84c Hot Spot temp which is a big reduction overall. One thing is for sure, the video card may be large and thick, but the SAPPHIRE custom cooling with angular velocity hybrid fan blades are doing a phenomenal job reducing the temps on the Radeon RX 7800 XT. The fans run quiet, and it does not hold back any potential.
GPU-Z Sensor Data
In the GPU-Z screenshots above you can compare the default readings (left) with the overclocked readings (right). We can see that the GPU Voltage actually dropped a little when we were overclocking, though it did not cause instability, and this may be due to the power demand. We see the board power draw increase from 273W to 300W, so power increased, but we still did not see much of a performance increase. The fans ran at just 29% at default, which is quite a quiet fan speed. Overall, the SAPPHIRE NITRO+ RX 7800 XT Gaming OC seems to be maxed out at its current factory overclock, power limits, and voltage out-of-the-box.
Discussion (7 replies)
Join Discussion →So AMD gives you close to RTX 4070Ti at less than RTX4070 price.
Time for an nvidia price drop yeeeeeeeeeeey ;) :D :D(y)
The only thing killing my desire for an AMD Graphics solution is the power draw.. sweet jesus they need help in efficiency in the worst way!
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.microcenter.com/product/670769/sapphire-technology-amd-radeon-rx-7800-xt-nitro-plus-triple-fan-16gb-gddr6-pcie-40-graphics-card[/URL]
Is this worth the $70 premium over the Asrock? Yeah the boost on the Sapphire is higher but is $70 higher? https://www.microcenter.com/product/670429/asrock-amd-radeon-rx-7800-xt-challenger-overclocked-dual-fan-16gb-gddr6-pcie-40-graphics-card
edit - the Asrock 3 fan edition might be a closer match and it's still $50 cheaper : https://www.microcenter.com/product/670431/asrock-amd-radeon-rx-7800-xt-phantom-gaming-overclocked-triple-fan-16gb-gddr6-pcie-40-graphics-card
I thought no one cared about power in a desktop. That's why everyone is getting 1kW+ PSUs isn't it?
Yeah, it's funny when the exact same people who defended the nvidia 30 series power draw and said it wasn't important are now the ones bitching about Radeon power draw.
I don't care if a card draws a lot of power. Just give me the performance.
Ok s
Don't get me wrong, I care about efficiency. I just chuckle when I see people saying "I need a 1K+ PSU for my 4090 at 600W that's melting connectors" and then see people say "OMG 270W is too much!" in the same forum.
To be fair - this card is throwing out 4070 FE / Titype numbers, and nVidia pulls that at about 200W-260W depending on which side of that performance delta you want to flip over to (based on reviews published on this site, if you want to go check). AMD takes about 270W for the same performance. So yeah, it's a fair point that nVidia has a bit of an efficiency edge - but it isn't by a landslide.
In a mobile device, yeah 10-20W matters a good deal. In a desktop? That's almost a rounding error. Even if you are comparing it to the 4070, 70W at this range is significant, but not anything you'd have to go out of your way to build around - not like, say, a card that pulls 500W anyway... All the cards in this weight class (4070s and 7800s) are 200-300W cards - what we would have been top of the line with respect to thermal power a few years ago. But comparing it to today's power hungry top tier cards, these aren't anything terrible.