The bottom line is no GPU card can pull as much current per cable as a KNC board does.
...
I highly doubt that. I have a 7970 myself, so can speak from experience. I've ran benchmarks @ 1340Mhz / 7600Mhz and 1.33V core which is a lot.
While I would agree a KNC module *per cable* will likely draw more current, I was originally pointing out I find it odd for them to be getting as warm as they are, ie, something must be up with the KNC module if it's not overclocked but drawing excessive amounts of current. I guess it could just be component variance.
Your experience, like mine, doesn't dictate everyone's. I've seen individual GPUs past 400, I've pushed mine to 380ish. I wouldn't find it impossible to see one in the mid 400's, just not the normal case. With the right cooling, MSI cards can take 3 hells' worth of beatings, as I'm sure some other cards can, especially when some of the cores start at 1.2905.