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We first measure system-wide power draw from the wall while the card is sat idling at the Windows 10 desktop for 5 minutes. Gaming power draw is recorded by running the Deus Ex benchmark at 4K. As a maximum stress test, Fire Strike Ultra Stress Test is run 5 consecutive times and the cards’ power draws are recorded.
Note: due to some logistics issues, we are unable to present data for the GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 cards in this test.
Compared with Nvidia's reference design boards, the Zotac Mini only draws around 10-15W more, despite the card using two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, instead of 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin. This small bump to the power consumption must be due to the +38MHz factory overclock.
In any case, if you are a looking for a GTX 1080 Ti, an extra 15-or-so Watts is not going to scare you off.
Even though it runs hot, this could be a great card for a SFF build that is being used as a HTPC multi purpose system in your living room. It could bring 4k gaming to your 4k living room TV! I wonder if there is a small AIO cooler that would fit and could help tame those temps.
The mini’s low idle temperature relative to the cards it was tested against suggest the possibility that a custom fan profile might help with its acoustics. As might a well ventilated case. I have a GTX 1070 FE and can attest that it, like many others, got some benefit from a custom voltage profile using Afterburner software. Lower voltage can help the card from hitting its power and temp limits as early, and might help with idle temps and fan speed and noise as well. This was a very informative review, thanks. It’s nice too see more options opening up for gamers.
I’m gonna buy one!