This time, we decided to include some power consumption numbers. We measured the idle and maximum power consumption figures for the whole test system, running without graphics. For both platforms, the same power supply and graphics card was employed. We used a WinRAR compression test and the Prime95 torture test to ensure a maximum system load.

As you can see, the Athlon 64 family definitely is more energy efficient. One advantage is that the nForce4 SLI is a single-chip component, while the nForce4 Intel Edition is based on a traditional North Bridge and South Bridge design. However, the Intel Pentium 4 or Pentium D systems also consume more energy in idle mode - more than the Athlon 64 or Athlon 64 X2 under maximum load.

The results do not include power consumption of the graphics card. In case of the GeForce 6800 GT, around 45 watts need to be added when running 3DMark 2005. Using two of these cards in SLI mode requires almost 100 W more power!