AMD and Nvidia Platforms Do Battle

AMD 780G Chipset: Video, Power and Block Diagram

No Power Savings for Idling Discrete Graphics

We were disappointed to see that the 780G chipset cannot manage the activity of an additional discrete graphics card in an effort to reduce power consumption. While Nvidia’s GeForce 8200/8300 chipset will switch off any HybridPower compatible GeForce 9800 or GeForce GTX 200 graphics card when only the integrated graphics unit is connected to a display, AMD doesn’t support shutting down additional graphics cards when they are not needed. As Nvidia’s GeForce 8200/8300 mGPU is slightly more power efficient than the 780G, AMD loses to Nvidia in the power consumption category once an additional graphics card is plugged in for 3D performance.

ATI Avivo HD

ATI’s Avivo HD feature is ready for hardware decoding of HDCP HD video. The CPU load averaged approximately 35% using all four cores with Cyberlink’s PowerDVD, which was only one per cent higher than the Nvidia GeForce 8200 decoding and decrypting Blu-ray video. However, the AMD 780G is a bit more efficient — most likely due to its 55 nm manufacturing design — as Full HD video playback added an additional 22 W to the idle power of 60 W; Nvidia was 3 W higher.

Chipset Diagram