Except majority of modern videocards does not use deferred rendering method i.e only visible pixels are rendered, they use immediate mode rendering. That method reduces memory usage and can save power as well which explains why PowerVR chipset has become defacto in mobile world. Check out: http://www.imgtec.com/powervr/powervr-technology.asp
The videocard of old Dremcast uses same method being the predecessor of those chipsets.