I decided to take a different tack in power consumption tests than most people might expect. Measuring how much power a single core CPU would require is totally different than the amount of power a dual core CPU would require. Also, differing components may affect the power draw. But to the ordinary consumer how would the power draw affect them in terms that they can understand?
So to start off the power consumption testing I took a system consisting of M2NPV-VM motherboard with the latest BIOS, 2 74GB Western Digital Raptor SATA drives in RAID 0 mode, a 7900GT from XFX running at a 520MHz core/1.44GHz memory clock, 2 sticks of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800MHz memory and an ASUS 16x DVD-ROM as the baseline power test system.
The first test was with the standard 5000+ test CPU that we use in testing motherboards. With the 5000+ CPU the baseline computer ran at 152W under normal Windows Vista environment. Under load, the system ran at a rating of 205W. The 4800+ Energy Efficient CPU on the same system gave a reading of 143W under normal Windows Vista environment. Under load, the 5000+ gave an average reading of 172W, a 33W difference to the 5000+.
But what does this mean to the average consumer? I mean numbers are nice and all but without a frame of reference most people consider the total amount of Watts a system consumes to be like magic. A full-sized refrigerator consumed 165W, equivalent to the whole system with a 4800 EE CPU installed. A high speed fan to cool a room would take about 90W at full speed. A 800W microwave actually consumed 1135W when cooking a TV dinner on high. The HDTV in the living room consumes about 190W in operation. As you can see a variety of electronics products can provide a wide array of power usage. A system with the 4800+ Energy Efficient CPU does not take much power compared to everyday household items.
