Measuring Power Efficiency
Energy efficient
computers are a good thing, so it helps to know how power efficient, or power
hungry different parts of a computer are when stressed with different tasks.
Since it is very difficult to isolate a videocard or CPU and measure power draw
separately, PCSTATS measures total system power draw with the aid of an Extech
380803 AC Power Analyzer and A-PFC compliant PC Power and
Cooling 750W power supply. The meter is placed between the 120V AC outlet
and the PC power supply. By stressing the test platform's graphics solution or
processor, it's then possible to measure power draw relative to the PC at an
idle state.
The test system is measured at Idle (Windows desktop),
Graphics Loaded (3Dmark06) and CPU Loaded (Prime 95) states.
|
Total
System Power Draw
 Biostar TA890FXE |
|
Graphics Solution
|
Idle
|
Graphics
Loaded |
CPU Loaded |
|
nVidia Geforce GTS250
(Discrete
Graphics)
|
133w
|
276w
|
244w
|
|
(At desktop) |
(via 3Dmark 06) |
(via Prime95) | |
The AMD 890FX chipset has a very modest TDP of 19.6W
itself, so even in a CPU-loaded state the total system power draw is only around
244W. When paired with a modest discrete graphics card you could even put the
Biostar TA890FXE into a low-power, passively cooled system.
Prelude to
Benchmarks
The details of how the Biostar TA890FXE
motherboard test system was configured for benchmarking; the specific hardware,
software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions is indicated below. In
the second column are the general specs for the reference platforms this AMD
890FX based motherboard is to be compared against.
Please take a moment to look over PCSTATS test
system configurations before moving on to the individual benchmark results on
the next page.
 |
| PCSTATS Test System Configurations |
|
test system |
reference system #1 |
reference system #2 |
reference system #3 |
| processor:
|
amd phenom ii x6 1090t |
amd Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
|
Intel Core i5 750 |
Intel Core i7 920 |
| CPU Process
Technology: |
45nm |
45nm |
45nm |
45nm |
| Socket:
|
Socket AM3 |
Socket AM3 |
Socket LGA1156 |
Socket LGA1366 |
| Clock Speed:
|
16x 200MHz = 3.2 GHz, Turbo Core @
3.6GHz (1090T) |
16 x 200 MHz = 3.2 GHz |
20x 133MHz = 2.66 GHz |
20x 133MHz = 2.67 GHz |
| Motherboard:
|
Biostar TA890FXE (AMD
890FX)
MSI 890FXA-GD70
(AMD 890FX)
Gigabyte GA890FXA-UD7 (AMD 890FX)
ASUS Crosshair
IV Formula (AMD 890FX) |
Biostar TA890GXE (AMD 890GXE)
ASUS M4A89GTD-Pro
(AMD 890GX)
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (AMD 790FX)
MSI 785GM-E65 (AMD 785G)
ASUS M4A785TD-V Evo (AMD 785G
Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H (AMD 785G)
Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H (AMD 785G)
|
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD6
(P55 Express)
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 (P55 Express)
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 (P55 Express)
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P
(P55 Express)
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R (P55 Express)
ASUS P7P55D-E
Pro (P55 Express)
ASUS P7P55D Premium (P55 Express)
ASUS
P7P55D Deluxe (P55 Express)
|
MSI Eclipse
Plus (X58 Express)
MSI X58 Platinum (X58 Express) |
| Videocard:
|
ASUS ENGTS250
DK
(Geforce GTS250) |
| Memory:
|
2x2GB Corsair XMS3-1600C9 DDR3 |
2x 2GB Corsair XMS3-1600C9 |
3x2GB Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D DDR3 |
| Hard Drive:
|
74GB Western Digital Raptor WD 740 |
|
Optical Drive:
|
ASUS BC-1205PT-BD |
| Power Supply:
|
PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 750W |
| Heatsink:
|
Athlon64 Reference
Heatsink |
Intel Reference 1156 Heatsink |
Intel Reference 1366 Heatsink |
| Operating
System: |
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit)
|
| Drivers:
|
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
AMD Catalyst
10.3b
nVIDIA Forceware 195.62 |
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
AMD Catalyst
9.12
nVIDIA Forceware 195.62 |
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Intel
9.1.1.1019
nVIDIA Forceware 190.62 |
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Intel INF
9.1.0.1012
nVIDIA Forceware 182.08 |
| Benchmarks:
|
System Benchmarks:
SYSmark
2007
PCMark Vantage
SiSoft Sandra 2009 |
Calculation B/M:
Super Pi 1.5
wPrime
2.0
ScienceMark 2.3
Bibble 5 |
Rendering B/M:
Cinebench R10
POV-Ray
3.7 |
Gaming B/M:
3DMark06
3DMark
Vantage
Cyrsis
FEAR
| | |
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