Quote Originally Posted by SKYMTL View Post
Man, this thread has gone downhill fast.

Regarding all of these "supposed" benchmarks showing the HD4870 being close to the GTX 280 under load, I say bollocks. Either the testing procedures are way out of wack ("hey, let's run 3DMark at default settings with the system plugged into a Kill A Watt!") or they aren't reporting it properly.

The reality of the situation is that under load the GTX 280 consumes up to 20% (around 70W) more power than the HD4870 while being disgustingly loud. That is the truth whether people accept it or not.
Agreed SKYMTL, i just can't understand people that insist HD 4870 has similar power consumption under load compared to GTX 280, i believe both ATi and nVidia don't pull TDP value for each respective product out of their CEO rear. HD 4870 TDP is 156w while GTX 280 TDP is 236w for God sake, and those are official numbers i believe.