The amount of electricity a computer needs is dependent not only on its components, but also the user’s habits. For example, leaving the PC on for 9 hours a day will mean less power use than running it at full capacity 24 hours a day. In the worst case, if AMD’s Cool’n’Quiet energy saving mode does not work, you could end up wasting an amount of electricity sufficient to light up a room.
Old news for Tom’s Hardware readers: the Phenom struggles with high energy loss levels while in standby mode. The power consumption of the chip can reach a value three times higher than that of the Athlon 64 X2, though when under constant load, it can take advantage of its strengths.
We analyzed and measured the energy consumption and electricity costs of 35 different AMD processors. Almost all of the released AM2 line processors were included, like the Phenom and the classic Athlon X2; also here are the “Efficient Energy” processors like the Athlon X2 BE and EE versions. On top of that, the new AMD 4000e series was also tested, and even the Sempron 64 and the old FX-62 were measured.
This test focuses wholly on power consumption. We are not measuring processors alone, but rather complete systems, because motherboard and components have a significant influence on power intake.
An AMD platform machine with a 790FX chipset does not waste much energy. We found that an average AMD PC system will only use about $111 (72 Euros) worth of electricity per year.
- Energy consumption of 35 AMD-Processors
- Test System Components
- Test System Components, Continued...
- Measuring Devices and Testing Methods
- AMD Phenom: Up to 27 Watts During Standby
- Testing 35 AMD Processors
- Energy Consumption: The Processor and Cool'n'Quiet Mode
- Energy Consumption: Cool’n’Quiet and the Complete System
- Energy Loss: When Cool’n’Quiet Mode Doesn’t Work
- System Energy Loss: When Cool’n’Quiet Mode Doesn’t Function
- Energy Consumption: Loading the Processor to the Maximum
- Energy Consumption: Burdening the Complete System to the Maximum
- Energy Costs: When Cool'n'Quiet Mode Doesn’t Work
- Electrical Costs: For an Average User
- Electrical Costs: the 24-Hour System
- Electrical Costs: the Full Capacity for 24-Hour System
- Phenom, Efficient at Full Capacity
The are still built on the 90nm process.
The P45 will introduce the 65nm process on the chipsets.
The latest AMD Chipsets use the 55nm process.
In regards to CPUs, The Intel CPUs generally use less than the AMD CPUs.
He was simply pointing out that the CPUs lose some of the benefeit of their low power consumption due to the chipset.
For lower-end chips sitting idle, the difference in power usage of the chipsets can be significant. If you are looking at a higher-end chip under load, the power usage of the chipset becomes nominal.
Rohs = reduction of hazrdous substances, nothing to do with power consumption
at least one could see, if intel's "nominal" TDP's are as regular as amd's.
here we see, the phenom 95 watts DO HAVE 95 watts at maximum.
IMO the dynamic power used by the processor is a factor of frequency, voltage and probably the number of transistors. The Phenom has 2 more cores, and a much larger L3 cache. The Phenom core itself is fairly similar to the K8s, and should not exhibit that much power increase if you can match the setup of a typical X2...
I would be interested to see a chart that showed how many watts it takes to do a multi threaded task. For example, a faster core(s) finishes the job quicker then can drop to its low power state. And also on how much work can be done in a distributed computing task. This would be similar to "it takes X-watts to complete a task.”
Its grate and more economyc than cool n´quite.
HTPCs is probably hit the hardest by this, and any other system that is placed in so called computer desks that have a closed cabinet for the PC. Hot running system increases heat generation and affects home/server room temperatures which also affects the power bill. Cooler running systems also lead to quieter system cause of the decrease of cooling fans.
One Item I would also like to see tested are power consumption among motherboards. CPUs and GPUs are obvious that the higher the performance the more the power will be used, but how does it compare with motherboards.
YES! Specifically, I'd like to see how much energy is used by each system if they have to do the same task for a given about of time ... like play a dvd for 2 hours.
-m