Time To Upgrade, Part 2: Picking The Parts To Replace

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After looking at whether or not it makes sense to replace a PC built back in 2007 with a more modern machine, we decided to examine three component upgrade options—graphics, storage, and the motherboard/CPU/RAM platform—separately.

Scenario 1 Results: Efficiency And Power Consumption

Idle power consumption decreases considerably just from the platform upgrade, while peak power doesn’t drop as much. If you recall the results from our prior full system upgrade, you'll realize that the new Radeon HD 5870 graphics card helps to save additional power, especially in idle.

Translated into efficiency results, this means that the 2010 system delivers roughly twice the performance per watt.