MPEG2 HD Test

Our test setup remains the same as the idle power tests with the Vista power profile set to Balanced. Our feature title is Crank, with a video bitrate up to 37Mbps and an uncompressed PCM soundtrack rated at 6144Kbps or a Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 EX track at 640Kbps.


Power
Consumption - Minimum Spec CPU

Power
Consumption - Dual Core

Power
Consumption - Quad Core

Much like our idle tests, the advantages go to the Biostar TF8200 A2+ board equipped with the GeForce 8200 chipset. The results are an 18W and 25W advantage with the low-end CPUs, 8W and 15W with the dual cores, and an outstanding 10W and 24W difference with the quad cores.

Our initial CPU utilization testing shows the GeForce 8200 and 780G chipsets to be nearly identical so we can negate any potential differences in this area. We are still analyzing the new image quality results, but they seem to be very close so far. We will temper our excitement for now, as new drivers that implement several missing features should be available shortly. We will revise our numbers if there are any significant changes.

Watting to Exhale Doh!
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  • spinportal - Friday, April 18, 2008 - link

    Hey Gary, shouldn't the last paragraph title be "Final Thoughts" instead of "First Thoughts"? Or did I read the article backwards? :)
  • Visual - Friday, April 18, 2008 - link

    They do this very often - I understand it as "the product is very new, just launching, and a lot more testing is expected; so far, this is what we think", but I've been confused by it too.
  • Visual - Friday, April 18, 2008 - link

    i am way out of the info loop now.
    are there no current nvidia igp chipsets for intel cpus?
  • smn198 - Friday, April 18, 2008 - link

    Thanks for the article. I found it interesting and glad that a better performing IGP doesn't have to mean worse power efficiency.

    I'd like the performance per watt stats I've seen you do before and also it would be good to get an indication of how much a difference in running costs each platform would have over the year having made some assumptions on typical usage.

    As you mentioned you focused on power which is important but there are many more considerations such as the materials and processes involved in making these components and the impact at EOL.

    Hope to see more like this!

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