new AMD chips use 25% less watts
new AMD chips use 25% less wattsIf you haven't noticed yet, I'm obsessed with power waste in computers. Especially when we're starting to hit a tipping point of power and companies like Nvidia actually recommend a second power source or a high end PSU in order to run their video card.
AMD's new 90nm cpu running at the same speed of their 130nm model uses 22watts less, brining it from 89w to 67w at the same exact speed.
Plus AMD also has speed throttling (which isn't new for AMD) which throttles the watt usage when you're not doing heavy work. This is something Intel invented with their centrino CPUs for laptops where power is at a premium. So at idle the AMD uses only 20w although the older 130nm model was at 21w so their idle was optimized already.
I love the idea of speed throttling as I hate the idea that my PC is burning watts wastefully when I'm away. And the idea of saving 47w-69w PER HOUR seems like huge savings.
On a tangent we all know LCDs use half the power of CRT but there still are those issues with gaming & natural resolution. I'd like to point out that natural resolution won't be an issue for LCDs when the natural resulotion is at 3200x2400 as by then, the pixels will be so small, you won't even see the blurring effect of an unnatural resolution. When that happens I can make the full step to a low power PC.
Probably the biggest bottleneck in power waste now-a-days is the 3D card which is increasing faster than CPUs are. Time will tell if anything promising comes down the pipe on that subject.
You can read more about the AMD from http://www.techreport.com/onearticle.x/7516