Power Consumption
Power-saving features are enabled for each processor at its stock settings, but get disabled to help with higher and more stable overclocks. We chart peak input watts during active idle, full Prime95 load, and throughout our gaming tests.
Our bench rig is way overpowered with Corsair's 80 PLUS Silver-rated HX1050. A quality 450 W power supply could have been sufficient, though overclocking the Radeon HD 7970 would have put more stress on the whole platform.
The Trinity-based Athlon X4 750K tops our chart with the three lowest power consumption measurements. On average, the older quad-core Phenom II consumes the most in stock form. Of course, our overclocking efforts required voltage bumps, resulting in higher power use under load. The jump at idle is more a result of disabling power-saving features.