Atom, Athlon, or Nano? Energy-Savers Compared
Test Setup
CPU I | AMD Athlon 64 2000+ (65nm, 2.0 GHz, 2MB L2 + 2MB L3 Cache) |
CPU II | Intel Atom 230 (45nm, 1.6 GHz, 512KB L2 Cache) |
CPU III | Via Nano L2100 (65nm, 1.8 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache) |
CPU IV | Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (45nm, 3.16 GHz, 6MB L2 Cache) |
AMD Chipset : 780G | Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, Rev 1.0 |
AMD 780G, BIOS : F5 | |
Intel Chipset : 945G | ECS 945GCT-D, Rev. 1.0 |
Intel 945G, BIOS : 0702 | |
Via Chipset : CN896 | Via Epia-SN18000G, Rev. A1 |
Via CN896, BIOS : 080014 | |
Intel Chipset : P45 | Asus P5Q-E, Rev. 1.01G |
Intel P45, BIOS : 0702 | |
RAM | 2GB DDR2-1066 Crucial CT25664AA1067 |
HDD | Seagate Barracuda 7200.11, 500 GB |
7,200 RPM, SATA/300, 32 MB cache | |
Blu-Ray | LG GGW-H20L |
Graphics Card P45 only | GeCube Radeon HD 4850 |
GPU : 625 MHz | |
RAM : 512 MB GDDR3 (993 MHz) | |
Power Supply | Fortron FSP220-60LE, 220 Watt |
Power Supply P45 | Coolermaster, ATX 2.3, 850 Watt |
Software & Drivers
Operating System Sysmark Windows XP SP2 |
DirectX 9 Version : April 2007 |
AMD Drivers Radeon 8.8 |
Intel Chipset INF : 9.0.0.1008 |
VIA Chipset Hyperion Pro : 5.20a |
Java Java Runtime Environment 6.0 Update 1 |
220-W High Efficiency Power Supply
We don’t want to forget one of the most important components we used for this reviews : Fortron’s FSP220 high efficiency power supply. As you can tell by the model number, this product was designed for a maximum output of 220 W, which is more than enough for our low-power systems. The reason we used it is the increased efficiency—PSUs will reach their highest efficiency only when operated within the output wattage range for which they were designed. Some PSUs are most efficient for low loads, while others are better for high loads. However, if you use an 800 W PSU and only use 28-50 W, the efficiency will certainly not be in an ideal range. This is why we used the FSP220—it guarantees that the PSU runs within an efficient load corridor.
Benchmarks and Settings
Benchmark | Details |
---|---|
iTunes | Version : 7.7.0.43Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minDefault format AAC |
Lame MP3 | Version 3.98Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 minwave to mp3160 Kbps |
Benchmark | Details |
---|---|
Winrar 3.80 | Version 3.70 BETA 8WinZIP Commandline Version 2.3Compression = BestDictionary = 4096 KBBenchmark : THG-Workload |
Winzip 11 | Version 11.2Compression = BestBenchmark : THG-Workload |
Maxon Cinema 4D Release 10 | Version : 10.008Rendering from a scene(Water drop at a Rose)Resolution : 1280 x 1024 - 8Bit (50 frames) |
Sysmark 2004 SE | Version 1.04Office Productivity |
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
PCMark05 | Version : 1.20 |
PCMark Benchmark | |
Memories Benchmark | |
CPU Benchmark | |
Graphics Benchmark | |
Windows Media Player 10.00.00.3646 |
We used SYSmark 2004 instead of the newer SYSmark 2007 Preview, because the latter would not finish on the test systems reliably. It also does not make a lot of sense to execute rather high-end applications on these low-end low-power systems.
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