Power Consumption & Temperatures
In terms of power usage the Radeon HD 5970 is hungry, which was to be expected. With a total system consumption level of 498 watts, the Radeon HD 5970 used slightly less power than the Radeon HD 4870 X2, while consuming 8% more than the GeForce GTX 295.
The Radeon HD 5970 does only use 26% more power than the Radeon HD 5870, which we found startling.
The operating temperature of the Radeon HD 5970 is well within acceptable levels, with an idle temp of 60 degrees. Under load the card heated up to 87 degrees. This stress temperature placed the Radeon HD 5970 alongside the GeForce GTX 275 and the Radeon HD 5870.
The surprising part is that under load the Radeon HD 5970 appeared to generate roughly the same amount of noise as the GeForce GTX 275 and Radeon HD 5870 graphics cards.