Yeah, ATI should have done that in the first place. 30% speed rather than 10% at idle would still be very quiet and keep it cooler running, and like 65% at load (with a 55-60 degree target limit) would actually REDUCE the power consumption of the chip (besides increasing the longevity and overclockability).

The power consumption is not that good with 4870's, actually exceeding the 8800GTX by a few watts under max load. If it was kept at 55 or 60 degrees, that would shave at least a dozen watts off the chip, as there would be less power leakage.

On Penryns, a 20 degree difference saves like more than 40 watts when feeding that thing 1.5v, and does wonders for overclockability.