Power Consumption

To provide you with a complete picture, we measured the power consumption of the systems (without a monitor) based on the tested CPUs. The CPUs worked in their nominal modes. The system configurations were the same as in the performance tests. We enabled Enhanced Intel SpeedStep and Cool’n’Quiet 2.0 technologies. The CPUs were loaded with Prime95 utility.

The results were quite predictable and logical. The tendencies are evident. First, CPUs manufactured with 45nm process consume considerably less power than their 65nm competitors. Second, power consumption depends directly on the clock frequency. That is why the new Core 2 Quad Q8200 may be considered the most power-efficient quad-core desktop processor.

The results of the Phenom X4 9950 processor stand out on the diagrams. K10 microarchitecture of this CPU doesn’t allow it to compete in power consumption even against the 65nm Core 2 Quad Q6600. So, the top quad-core AMD processor loses to junior Intel quad-core solutions not only in performance but also from the power efficiency standpoint. Just think about it: a faster system built with Core 2 Quad Q8200 consumes 1.5 times less power than a system on AMD Phenom X4 9950!

Here I would only like to add that despite relatively low power consumption of the junior quad-cores, they still need more power than the today’s top dual-core CPU - Core 2 Duo E8600.