Test Setup

Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 Testbed
Processors Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650
Quad-core, 3GHz, 2x6MB Cache, 1333FSB

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800
Quad-core, 2.93GHz, 2x4MB Cache, 1066FSB
CPU Voltage Various according to DES Level
Cooling Water cooling: Swiftech Apogee GTX, PA120.3 Rad, 3 X Laing DDC Ultra Petra Top pumps in series, 3x Panaflo 120mm Fans 7-10V
Power Supply OCZ 1000W
Memory OCZ DDR3 PC3-14400 (DDR-1800) Platinum Edition
2GB XP, 4GB Vista 64
Memory Settings Default via SPD
Video Cards Asus 8800 GTS 640MB
Video Drivers Nvidia 169.09 (XP)
Hard Drive Western Digital 7200RPM 250GB SATA 3/Gbps 16MB Buffer
Optical Drives Plextor PX-B900A
Case Lian Li -75
BIOS F4B
Operating System Windows XP 32 Bit SP2
Watt Meter Paget 9149
.

We decided to use Windows XP 32-bit as our test operating system with 2GB of memory installed. The Stanford Folding@Home client was used to simulate 100% loading tests and to test for stability at a variety of processor core voltage levels. Prime95 Torture tests were also run in small FFT mode to place a maximum load on the CPU in order to determine the worst case scenario for voltage droop at each of the available DES levels. As we are monitoring for outright system power consumption and savings, we did not account for PSU losses in any of the idle and full load wattage figures. However, PSU load efficiency will obviously affect the total level of power saving that can be realized. The most important factor to us today is how much overall power we can save at the wall. We did find that the watt-meter cycled between a variety of voltages at both idle and full load of the processor. For this reason, the figures shown in our tables represent averages that are accurate to around +/- ~.5W.

Index Using DES - How to?
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  • Nihility - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link

    Doesn't EIST offer better power savings over what DES does?
    The Q9650 has a multiplier of 9 meaning that when EIST is on, its clock speed will be reduced by 1000 Mhz. I'm just curious if that's not a better power saving option for a computer that is mostly idle (internet, word processing mentioned in the article). As I understand it, EIST needs to be shut off.
  • Rajinder Gill - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link

    Not really, these processors are now so efficient at idle that the core speed reduction does little to save extra power. Gigabyte have sorted out the EIST/C1E and DES issue in the latest BIOS. You can now have all 3 on simultaneously. Unlike the previous releases..

    regards
    Raja
  • Cardio - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link

    Rather he would do his Lemming imitation.
  • emenk - Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - link

    You said at the very top "Our initial reaction to Gigabyte's DES (Dynamic Energy Saver) software was stated in the GA-X48T-DQ6 review a few weeks ago." Where exactly did you say that? What did you say?

    I've searched for any mention of it, and I can't find it. I've even used Google!

    I'm getting the impression that this is yet another example of Anandtech bullshitting us by saying they said something that they didn't say. If I just can't read, then point out where you said something about the DES software in GA-X48T-DQ6 review. Otherwise, stop printing bullshit. I'm sick of wasting my time trying to track down stuff that you claim you said in different articles.
  • emenk - Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - link

    Nevermind. I just found it on the second page. You called it by the wrong name, though. No wonder I couldn't find it! So did you screw up or hadn't Gigabyte settled on the name yet?

    If you called it by the wrong name, why didn't you point that out or fix it? Even if Gigabyte changed the name, why didn't you point out that you used the old name in the previous article?
  • Rajinder Gill - Thursday, January 24, 2008 - link

    Emenk,

    I have corrected the misname in the last review. In terms of trying to deceive readers - i think you could not be further from the truth. We are human and sometimes mistakes do slip through. In this case the results of the mistake are not likely to have caused a massive misconception that brings harm to the end user. I have searched the web for both GA-X48T-DQ6 reviews and DES write ups. Needless to say, the depth of our articles is far in excess in all instances and actually tells the truth as we see it. I have not seen anyone else get to grips with the DES or the BIOS in a way that we have managed at Anandtech. Sorry for the mistake, thanks for pointing it out.

    regards
    Raja
  • emenk - Friday, January 25, 2008 - link

    Sorry, I did not mean to suggest that you were intentionally deceiving your readers - just that you were being careless with the mundane, simple facts. I'm not as experienced as some of your readers, but little mistakes can cause big problems for me trying to get started understanding the articles.

    quote:

    Needless to say, the depth of our articles is far in excess in all instances...


    I don't doubt that. For me, your article starts out too deep, though. (Well, actually, it starts out with fluff about Al Gore, etc., then suddenly goes too deep.) Someone in the forums pointed me to http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1272/gigabyte_s_...">this TweakTown article, which is a good introduction for me. Maybe you are targeting readers who would already know everything that was said in that article, but I didn't. Now that I have read that article, I am in a much better position to understand yours. I wasn't before.

    I was frustrated earlier because I had been hoping to find basic background information about DES in the previous Anandtech GA-X48T-DQ6 review, but couldn't find the comment about DES (due to the mistake in the software's name) at first, then found it wasn't that helpful to me once I did find it.

    I'm sorry if the mark-up codes I'm using here aren't the correct ones. I'm uses the same mark-up codes that work in the forum. The javascript isn't inserting them here for me.
  • slashbinslashbash - Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - link

    Why is it that motherboard manufacturers' overclocking software must always look like it comes out of a 3rd-rate sci-fi movie? Bulbous, way too colorful, with all kinds of buttons in odd places and not at all looking like a normal program that a normal person would want to use. It looks SO amateurish. All of the "real" software companies realized long ago that as long as we have 2D displays, it's going to be most efficient to have windows in the shape of rectangles instead of circles or other odd shapes. Give me a simple gray box with a few sliders, and the close/minimize/etc. buttons in their right positions, please!
  • legoman666 - Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - link

    I agree whole heartedly. Enough of these "slick" apps. I want a box with some sliders and dials.
  • mindless1 - Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - link

    I third that notion, though Gigabyte seems to be worse in this respect than some others.

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