Intel Core 2 Chipset Power Consumption Shootout
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 12, 2006 12:53 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
The Test
We did our best to make this a chipset power consumption comparison, but in reality it is just as much of a motherboard power consumption shootout as a chipset one. All extra features -- things like Wireless LAN and IEEE-1394 support -- were disabled to level the playing field as much as possible between platforms. All memory timings and BIOS settings (where applicable) were set identically across all three systems, and of course we used the same physical CPU, power supply, memory and video card for each system to avoid any variation between components.
Our testing methodology was simple: we ran through our usual suite of CPU performance tests, varying only the motherboard, but also recorded power consumption for the duration of each benchmark (beginning when the benchmark starts measuring performance and concluding when it is done measuring performance). Using an Extech 380803 Power Analyzer we were able to log the instantaneous power consumption of our test systems every half a second, giving us reasonable accuracy, especially for the longer tests. For each benchmark that we ran, we plotted performance, total system power consumption and performance per watt.
We were able to run almost all of our tests while measuring power consumption with the exception of PC WorldBench 5, the reason being that some of the WorldBench tests were too short to get accurate power measurements with. We are working on a solution and hope to present WorldBench power consumption numbers in future articles.
| CPU: | Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66GHz/4MB) |
| Motherboard: | ASUS P5W DH Deluxe (975X) ASUS P5B Deluxe (P965) ASUS P5NSLI (nForce 570 SLI) |
| Chipset: | Intel 975X Intel P965 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI |
| Chipset Drivers: | NVIDIA 8.22 Intel 8.1.1.1001 |
| Hard Disk: | Seagate 7200.9 300GB SATA |
| Memory: | Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 (1GB x 2) |
| Video Card: | XFX GeForce 7900 GS |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA ForceWare 91.47 |
| Desktop Resolution: | 1280 x 1024 - 32-bit @ 60Hz |
| OS: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
44 Comments
View All Comments
Magendanz - Thursday, October 12, 2006 - link
The days of ATI building chipsets for Intel CPUs may be numbered, but I'd be interested in seeing how their current offerings compare to nVidia and Intel.Also, how does integrated graphics change the power equation?
Questar - Thursday, October 12, 2006 - link
I would never consider power consumption in choosing a chipset. Two or three watts of pwer consumption isn't even worth spending any time considering imho.
falc0ne - Saturday, October 14, 2006 - link
yeah the same to me, I think for the average user power consumption of a chipset will never be a primary criteria when buying a new MB/platform. For the enterprise/business customers..that's another matter. These mbs here in the test were for the average user though.. I don't see what's with all the fuzz on performance per watt(power consumption) issue lately, at least when the differences are so minor..I'm looking forward to a thoroughly investigation on core 2 duo platforms..till then, keep up with the good work Anand..you are still my best:)
smilingcrow - Saturday, October 14, 2006 - link
For those wanting power consumption data on older chipsets that support C2D, which also includes consumption at idle, http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=3...">See herehubajube - Thursday, October 12, 2006 - link
Yep, don't care about power consumption of the chipset. Also, if you're looking at business machines for 10,000+ users, you aren't going the custom build route as the costs to build aren't worth the savings on parts. You're going to go with a canned solution and most of those machines have low power draws anyways (no fans, low wattage power supplies, bare bones components).phusg - Friday, October 13, 2006 - link
Guys if you don't care about chipset power draw then why bother reading the article (assuming you even did) and why even bother replying to the forum?!? Sheesh.Madellga - Friday, October 13, 2006 - link
Dells and HPs (canned solutions) also use those chipsets. There are "canned" workstations also, for CAD work for example. They are not barebones, although cheap components could be used.Low wattage PSUs do not translate in lower consumption. A 500W rated 80% at 100W consumes the same as a 300W rated 80% at 100W. Most likely the canned PSU will be a cheaper one and consume more.
Corporate purchases are Global Sourced and they go for the cheapest. No corporate buyer will pay a cent more on every computer to have an Enermax PSU, for example.
Madellga - Thursday, October 12, 2006 - link
Wrong. Can you imagine in a office?In a large corporation, or gov. office, that has more than 10000 computers.
That's a lot of money.
If you think worldwide, that's a lot of energy. You don't pay this out of your pocket, nevertheless it is money wasted that could go somewhere else.
In the long run, it's also contributing to Global Warming and other pesky effects.
yyrkoon - Friday, October 13, 2006 - link
Except that a large corporation wouldnt be using this type of otherboard most likely to begin with.I have to agree with the OP, in that a few WATTS is no big deal here, however, CPU / GPU power usage can be, and often is.
I know that one thing is for sure, IF I ever use SLI, its going to be a mid ranged card that uses much less power, as I dont feel that 1 KW is nessisary for hight end PC (which is how much future PCs are going to be needing at this rate).
peternelson - Friday, October 13, 2006 - link
In a COLD country making little use of air conditioning, the excess power consumption from pcs would actually warm up the office and SAVE MONEY AND ENERGY in building heating costs. Also the electricity might be nuclear or green, whereas the building heating is more likely oil or gas (fossil fuels being depleted making green house gases and co2).
If you live in say Texas or the Sahara desert, it would of course increase your aircon costs.
Anyway I was interested in how the 590 chipset performed against 570 in power consumption.