Measuring Energy Efficiency
Energy efficient computers are a good thing, so it
helps to know how power efficient, or power hungry different parts of a computer
are when stressed with different tasks. Since it is very difficult to isolate a
videocard or CPU and measure power draw separately, PCSTATS measures total
system power draw with the aid of an Extech 380803 AC Power Analyzer and A-PFC
compliant PC
Power and Cooling 750W
power supply. The meter is placed between the 120V AC outlet
and the PC power supply.
By stressing the test platform's graphics
solution or processor, it's then possible to measure power draw relative to the
PC at an idle state.
The test system is measured at Idle (Windows
desktop), Graphics Loaded (3Dmark06) and CPU Loaded (Prime 95) states.
|
Total
System Power Draw
 ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO |
|
Graphics
Solution |
Idle
|
Graphics
Loaded |
CPU Loaded |
|
AMD HD 4200
(Integrated Graphics) |
89W |
152W |
152W
|
|
nVidia Geforce GTS250
(Discrete
Graphics)
|
145W
|
201W
|
246W
|
|
(At desktop) |
(via 3Dmark 06) |
(via Prime95) | |
AMD's
Radeon HD 4200 IGP still has a fairly small TDP, so when running in integrated
graphics with a low-wattage AMD CPU the entire PC doesn't have much trouble
keeping under 100W. The ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO draws a bit more power than the MSI
785GM-E65 at idle, although not enough to make a huge impact on your electricity
bill.
Prelude to
Testing
The details of how the ASUS M4A785TD-V
EVO motherboard test system was configured for benchmarking; the specific
hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions is indicated
below. In the second column are the general specs for the reference platforms
this AMD 785G based motherboard is to be compared against. Please take a moment
to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on to the
individual benchmark results on the next page.
 |
| PCSTATS Test System Configurations |
|
|
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