Processing power vs. energy consumption

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cluelessONE

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ok, so i was looking into buying a cpu,
i looked particularly at the

phenom II x4 965
&
core 2 quad q8300
as of now, theyre both about the same price
the one thing is worrying me,

the phenom is a 125w

and q8300 at 95w

im not sure how this works, but under full load, not overclocked, would this mean that the power consumption would be that listed? meaning that the 965 would consume a lot more energy meaning higher electric bill?

if so, which would be more efficient to have? the phenom or the C2Q?

*wonder wonder^^
 
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The difference is very very small, 30W diffence would mean about 1 unit of electricity extra every 33 hrs that it is switched on and fully loaded. In the UK a unit would be about 10p, so over the whole year it...

cluelessONE

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sandybridge, that goes way past my budget though, but taht would be great if i had the money, spreading a budget to make 4 computers is hard work, here, i guess im looking for a fast cpu that would be good for gaming, and video rendering, what ive been reading up on is that the q8300 would be good in multithreading, but the phenom would be good at gaming, but since its black edition, its an unlocked multiplier, which to me, has already been overclocked, while as the c2q is still at stock, but ive read is not much of an overclocker let alone on an economy board
 

4745454b

Titan
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There are two things to look at when considering energy consumption. The wattage used is the easy one. But just because CPU A uses 30W more then CPU B doesn't mean it will use more energy overall. There is also the motherboard to consider, and length of time it will spend at peak load. The board won't matter to much because we are probably talking about a 5-10W difference at most between them. But if the 125W CPU can get done with a task faster then the 95W CPU, it will return to its idle state sooner, and might consume less energy overall. You'll have to look at the benchmarks between those CPUs when they do the tasks that you actually do.
 

cluelessONE

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if you put it like that, i guess, it would be the same hehe

longer task time less energy = shorter task time more energy

about the same hehe, but the phenom would have the performance much more higher than a q8300 right? just to even out the energy being used,

uhhhh energy : performance ratio
 



The difference is very very small, 30W diffence would mean about 1 unit of electricity extra every 33 hrs that it is switched on and fully loaded. In the UK a unit would be about 10p, so over the whole year it might cost you £26 more when 100% utilised. Realistically you'll only be switched on 50% of the time, and fully loaded perhaps 60% of that. So about £8 extra in electric per year.



 
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cluelessONE

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not too "shabby" XD ahhahaha wow, thats it? and i was getting all guilty about the electric billXD hahahaha well i guess thats ok, but i suppose the more heat that phenom produces, the more wear and tear thatll go onto the cpu,

outta thread- does the phenom 965BE really have performance equal to that of the i series?
 

4745454b

Titan
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It will depend on the task of course. I'm sure I could come up with an example or two where a 965 beats an i7. It will also depend on the i7 that your talking about. There are i7 8xx chips, and i7 9xx chips. Beating an 920 will be easier then beating a 950.
 
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