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December 19th, 2007

Hitting 50W peak on a dual-core desktop computer

Posted by George Ou @ 8:54 pm

Categories: AMD, Build it yourself, Consumer electronics, Desktop, Energy efficiency - green, Fun Stuff, Hardware, Intel, News, Processors

Tags: Desktop, Dual-core, Stock, Power Consumption, Memory, Motherboard, Computer, Watt, Desktop Computer, Processors

The 50W no-compromise dual-core commodity desktop PC is now a reality!I have some great news for the green computing world.  The 50W no-compromise dual-core commodity desktop PC is now a reality!  It all started a few months back when I looked in to the possibility of building a main stream dual-core desktop computer that can drop under 50 watts idle but now I’ve answered that question beyond all expectations.  Using a 220W Sparkle SPI220LE “80 Plus” efficient power supply, an Intel E2140 1.6 GHz dual-core CPU running at lower-than-spec 0.95 volts, and a Gigabyte G33M-DS2R motherboard, the system comes in just under 50 watts at *PEAK* CPU load generated by WPrime running 2 threads.  If I could only find a smaller 100 watt 80 Plus power supply and hit the optimum 50% loading at peak power consumption, then it might be possible to get peak system loads down to around 45 watts.

At idle the system uses 41 watts which is actually one watt higher than my sub-$400 All-in-One LCD PC with an ECS 945GCT-M motherboard and an Intel E2180 2.0 GHz dual-core running at stock speeds and voltage.  It turns out that this G33M-DS2R board with E2140 CPU running at stock speeds and voltage has an idle system power of 46 watts which is 6 watts higher than the ECS board with E2180.  This was surprising to me since the new G33 chipset has a more energy efficient memory controller than the 945 chipset.

Possible explanations are the fact that the G33-based motherboard was running the memory at 400 MHz base clock (DDR2-800 memory) whereas the 945-based motherboard was running the memory at 200 MHz.  One other factor is the fact that the Gigabyte G33M-DS2R Intel G33-based motherboard has a 6-port SATA ICH9R RAID controller along with a few more memory and PCI ports.  This leads me to think that the combination 2x the memory clock and more components translates to an additional 6 watts of power consumption.

The following idle/peak power consumption charts are from data I collected.

* SPI SPI220LE 220W 80+ PSU
** No system fan which saves 1W power

Gigabyte with Intel CPU = G33M-DS2R motherboard
Gigabyte AMD CPU = MA69GM-S2H motherboard
MSI with AMD CPU = K9AGM2-FIH motherboard

George Ou is Technical Director of ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

  • Talkback
  • Most Recent of 69 Talkback(s)
Any "80 Plus" PSU CANNOT be poorly built
Any "80 Plus" PSU cannot be poorly built, you're not going to see a cheap $10 PSU pass 80 Plus certifications.... (Read the rest)
Posted by: georgeou Posted on: 01/13/08 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
Needs a Part 2  nucrash | 12/20/07
Performance per clock leader would be an Intel Yorkfield  georgeou | 12/20/07
that's good news  Linux Geek | 12/20/07
Green has two meanings  georgeou | 12/20/07
This isn't fanless, but it is relatively noiseless  georgeou | 12/20/07
Replace the constant speed fan ...  Tony R. | 12/20/07
All Intel retail fans come with 4-pin variable speed fans  georgeou | 12/20/07
Is it quiet?  NoPumpGas | 12/20/07
Lower power allows you to use fewer and slower fans  georgeou | 12/20/07
Good enough  NoPumpGas | 12/20/07
Disabling Peripherals In The Bios  jeff@... | 12/20/07
RAID is not enabled  georgeou | 12/20/07
George I have an interesting test for you...  mrOSX | 12/20/07
Encoding would be the only CPU intensive task  georgeou | 12/20/07
RE: Hitting 50W peak on a dual-core desktop computer  morwen | 12/20/07
Does this include...  bjbrock | 12/20/07
Hard drive usage will add about 4W  georgeou | 12/20/07
RE: Hitting 50W peak on a dual-core desktop computer  rvanrooyen | 12/20/07
Yes, but G33 based boards aren't as optimized for DVD quality  georgeou | 12/20/07
RE: Hitting 50W peak on a dual-core desktop computer  rvanrooyen | 12/20/07
It's a Seagate 500 GB SATA drive  georgeou | 12/20/07
RE: Hitting 50W peak on a dual-core desktop computer  pipercub1941 | 12/20/07
What about the 65W AMD 5200+?  enduser_z | 12/20/07
No I don't have that chip handy  georgeou | 12/20/07
I really do think you should pick one up.  enduser_z | 12/21/07
Actually, the 65nm chips don't use that much less power  georgeou | 12/22/07
I think you misunderstood my post.  enduser_z | 12/22/07
The BE-2350 is a 65nm chip and it's the lowest power AMD chip you can find  georgeou | 12/22/07
XO laptop: peak 5 watts - maybe  bbaston@... | 12/20/07
This isn't about laptops  georgeou | 12/20/07
Caveats  techboy_z | 12/20/07
I didn't drop CPU speeds  georgeou | 12/20/07
thin client  ThinkFair | 12/20/07
Not everything can be done on thin clients  georgeou | 12/20/07
Keep up the Good Work!  markk02474@... | 12/20/07
I've been trying to dispell that myth for some time  georgeou | 12/20/07
Power Supplies  Narg | 01/09/08
Any "80 Plus" PSU CANNOT be poorly built  georgeou | 01/13/08
Where is the trust?  Bozzer | 12/20/07
Prove that with some facts  DevGuy_z | 12/20/07
Here's one George got plenty wrong...  MarcB_z | 12/20/07
Too bad those both got refuted  georgeou | 12/20/07
George's Articles  Drakaran | 12/20/07
Good for you.  Bozzer | 12/20/07
No Whining  thetruthhurts | 12/20/07
No feedback  Bozzer | 12/20/07
There is a simple solution  NonZealot | 12/20/07
Not just my numbers, but SPECpower  georgeou | 12/20/07
Dear troll...  webm0nster | 12/20/07
I don't get measuring at idle---  curta_z | 12/20/07
That's why I give you peak and idle measurements  georgeou | 12/20/07
Ok, I'm dumb as dirt when it comes to this... So, I have a question  DanLM | 12/21/07
Most applications would generate less load than the peaks I quoted  georgeou | 12/22/07
I couldn't find anything official on it  DanLM | 12/22/07
Running even but at what percentage?  georgeou | 12/22/07
Thin Client power usage  SteveGJ | 12/21/07
Steps to measure idle and peak state?  kingstarusa | 12/21/07
Done in Windows Vista  georgeou | 12/21/07
You can use a live CD or USB stick, but I'm not sure what tools under Linux  georgeou | 12/21/07
From what I seen  DanLM | 12/22/07
grrrrr, I hate when I do this  DanLM | 12/22/07
It sounds like a low-priority thread  georgeou | 12/22/07
A few remarks  CFKane | 12/24/07
That's not true  georgeou | 12/24/07
Thank you  davids@... | 12/27/07
Try a PicoPSU that is 85% efficient at 40W output  shutrbug | 12/27/07
Great tip!  georgeou | 12/29/07
Keep it coming  ragnar.moller@... | 12/28/07
always; too  ýlysdexia | 01/01/08

What do you think?

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