Display Power Consumption: CRTs Versus TFT-LCDs
An increasing number of flat panel displays are based on LED backlighting, and their manufacturers aren't shy about promoting the technology's benefits to power consumption. We checked the claims to see if the promised savings are worth emphasizing.
Test CRT And Setup
Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454 (19”, 2003)
We reviewed this monitor in 2002. It was an upper-mainstream 19” unit enabling impressive resolutions and supporting high frequencies of 115 kHz on its DiamondTron tube. This was enough to run up to 1920x1440 at 77 Hz. We used a 1600x1200 resolution at 85 Hz for our testing. Iiyama's specifications say that it consumes up to 145 W. We didn't get that high. At 100% brightness, it pulled just over 100 W.
Sony Multiscan G420 (19”, 2002)
Test Environment
| System Hardware | Header Cell - Column 1 |
|---|---|
| Hardware | Details |
| Motherboard (Socket LGA1156) | Zotac H55 ITX-WiFi (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: Intel H55, BIOS: 1.3 |
| CPU Intel | Intel Core i3-530 (32 nm, 2.93 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 and 4 MB L3 Cache, TDP: 73 W) |
| Display I (CRT) | Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454, 1920x1440, 19", 4:3, 115 Hz |
| Display II (CRT) | Sony CPD-G420, 1920x1440, 19", 4:3, 110 Hz |
| Display I (TFT) | Philips 190BW9, 1680x1050, 16:9, 19", TN panel |
| Display II (TFT) | Samsung SyncMaster 245B Plus, 1920x1200, 16:10, 24", TN panel |
| Display III (TFT) | Samsung SyncMaster 204B, 1600x1200, 4:3, 20", TN panel |
| Display IV (TFT) | Acer P225HQL, 1920x1080, 22", 16:9, LED Backlight, TN panel |
| Display V (TFT) | BenQ FP937S, 1280x1024, 4:3, 19", TN panel |
| RAM | 2 x 2 GB DDR3-1333 (OCZ3G2000LV4GK 8-8-8-24), dual-channel mode |
| HDD | Seagate Barracuda 7200.11, 500 GB (ST3500320AS),7200 RPM, SATA 3Gb/s, 32 MB Cache |
| Power Supply | Enermax Pro 82+, EPR425AWT, 425 W |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate x64, Updated on 2010-03-03 |
| Drivers and Settings | |
| Intel Chipset Drivers | Chipset Installation Utility Ver. 9.1.1.1025 |
| Intel Storage Drivers | Matrix Storage Drivers Ver. 8.9.0.1023 |
| Intel Graphics | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 15.17 |
All LCD-based displays operate at their native resolutions and 60 Hz. The CRT display runs at 1600x1200, 85 Hz. Brightness was always set to 100%, which may not be realistic, but it represents the worst-case scenario. The last test results demonstrate power consumption at decreased brightness.
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