As a developer of both general purpose and DirectX applications, I've got to say that a lot of you guys are very frustrating with your assumptions about engineering and 3D programming. =/

As for my bit:
If the card can be made to draw current in excess of either its supply capability or its current protection threshold using nothing other than normal API commands, there's a design problem. There's nothing wrong with the chip, so maybe the title of the thread is misleading, but the reference cards' power supplies need some work. That being said, this was probably an intentional action. It makes sense to aim for above the middle as it'll provide compatibility with real life games. Making a design that is good for the upper 1% of applications that aren't widely used at an extra cost doesn't make a whole lot of business sense.