Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 Review :: Gigabyte Dynamic Energy Saving

The Dynamic Energy Saving feature is interesting to people wanting to save on electricity costs and be more “Green.” There are two modes settings for DES: Power Saving mode and Total Power Saving Mode. Power Saving mode shows the end-user how much power they’ve saved in a set period of time. Total Saving Mode shows how much power the end-user has saved since DES is activated.

Normal CPU voltage on the E6750 Core 2 Duo CPU we use in testing is 1.312V. Dynamic Voltage allows the DES to lower the voltage of the CPU. With DV set to Level 1 the voltage of the E6750 fluctuated from 1.248V to 1.264V on idle. In Level 2, the voltage went to 1.248V. Level 3 is the harshest voltage cut to 1.216V on idle. Dynamic Frequency doesn’t seem to change the frequency of the E6750 even at idle.

After using the DES for a couple of hours I was able to save over a kilowatt of power compared to when DES was disabled. The ability to save power on a motherboard is pretty dramatic as the system shows how much power the CPU is drawing. Gigabyte says that DES can save up to 70% power over standard energy usage at full power.