I have read some other reviews about the power consumption in idle. It doesn't look that bad
Kitguru have only tested the card in boost state and they report a graphics card ( not the whole system ) consumption of 199 watt in gaming. The reference AMD7950 is measured at 187 watt. In zero core state they both consume 4 watt. Sadly no idle reporting
Hexus has also only tested in boost state and they report a system power consumption in idle of 59 watt vs 58 watt of the reference 7950
Tweaktown is reporting a system consumption in idle at 196 Watt. It's in the same range of other cards including a Geforce 660 which I thought would have a easy win in this discipline.
I'm not saying that TechPowerUp has anything wrong while testing the power consumption card in idle. You have your test setup and other sites have a different setup. And what exactly is idle when they test the card ? I took a chance a bought the card actually. I found a big company in Denmark that wanted to sell it a a very good price when the get their first shipment. I should have the card by Friday / Saturday. I might even do my own little power test if anybody is interested. I only have some cheap power consumption tester though.