Power, Heat, And Efficiency
MSI surprised us again by having the lowest full-load power consumption, in spite of its added PCIe bridge. EVGA’s P55 Classified 200, which was the other motherboard with Nvidia’s PCIe bridge, had the highest power consumption.
MSI also has the lowest voltage-regulator temperature, although EVGA’s voltage regulator was also surprisingly cool for an all-digital part. Smaller, more decorative heat sinks let the Maximus III Formula get a few degrees warmer.
Dividing average game and application performance of each motherboard by its average power consumption gives us an efficiency value for each.
Higher power consumption hurt EVGA’s efficiency, although most gamers will likely consider the board’s enhanced graphics support as an overbearing factor in their purchase decision, rather than a couple percentage points on efficiency.