Every graphics processing unit as well as central processing unit has a thermal design power (TDP) that should be dissipated whernever the case temperature (Tcase) of a chip reaches certain limit (e.g., Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 has TDP of 130W that need to be dissipated when the chip reaches Tcase of 54.8°C).
ATI Radeon X1950 Pro consumes about 65W (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/x1950pro-gf79 00gs_6.html). Though, GPU designers never declare maximum Tcase. As a consequence, due to the fact that thermal characteristics vary, Tcase can not be measured under current circumstances and have a reliable value.
Usage of a bulit-in thermal diode does not seem to be relevant, as it measures something inside the chip case, not atop of the case. Therefore, we could not combine the figure with power consumption numbers.
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Posted by: Anton

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Date: 05/23/07 07:02:17 PM]