Intel or Amd, best for power consumption?

[Albert Grennock]

I am considering which to but.

One issue which concerns me is the power consumption, somoething
most people probably don't even think about when buying because
they think it is insignigicant.

Anyway a quick calculation, I am assuming my PC will be on about
16 hours a day on average (probablyon 24hours sometimes, or at least untill
it craches). Now for 365 days that is.......5,840 hours.
So... I am under the impression that the AMD uses less power then the
Intel possible 50watts less but I will come back with more accurate figures.
So....5,840 X 0.05kW=292 kWh.

Now assuminig a price of 8p per kWh, and electricity is unlikely to get any
cheaper
in the future that is......£23 per annum.

£23 is not a fortune but I expect the PC to last 5 years or more, maybe 10.
So thats £115 in 5 year, or £230 in ten years, more than the cost of the
processor
itself.

I think there is a similar arguement for LCD monitors which I believe
consume
about 50 watts less than a CRT monitor. A quick look at monitor prices shows
a 17" LCD monitor costs about £50 more than a CRT equilivant so the LC
works out cheaper after about 2 years.

My current monitor is about 8 years old so it has cost me about ~£190
in extra power over a LCD, quite a tidy sum.

So in summary an AMD system with an LCD monitor will save me about £390
in running costs over an Intel with a CRT monitor, thats £340 saved when you
add £50 for the LCD monitor, not far off what the system will cost me I
expect.

I expect to pay about £500 for the system and it will be a little easier to
part
with the money knowing I have saved £340 by buying the 'right' system :O)
infact it is probably costing me money running my old system!!! Shock!
Horror!!!

Any comments welcome, also please feel free to check my figures.

Another though just occured to me.....how much do laptops cost to run?????

Would I be better off with one of those? I know their procesors use less
power but I am unsure how much.


Food for though.

Any advice welcome.

I don't use my PC for playing 'zap em up' games or anything like that.

 

[Albert Grennock]

I am considering which to but.

One issue which concerns me is the power consumption, somoething
most people probably don't even think about when buying because
they think it is insignigicant.

Anyway a quick calculation, I am assuming my PC will be on about
16 hours a day on average (probablyon 24hours sometimes, or at least untill
it craches). Now for 365 days that is.......5,840 hours.
So... I am under the impression that the AMD uses less power then the
Intel possible 50watts less but I will come back with more accurate figures.
So....5,840 X 0.05kW=292 kWh.

Now assuminig a price of 8p per kWh, and electricity is unlikely to get any
cheaper
in the future that is......£23 per annum.

£23 is not a fortune but I expect the PC to last 5 years or more, maybe 10.
So thats £115 in 5 year, or £230 in ten years, more than the cost of the
processor
itself.

I think there is a similar arguement for LCD monitors which I believe
consume
about 50 watts less than a CRT monitor. A quick look at monitor prices shows
a 17" LCD monitor costs about £50 more than a CRT equilivant so the LC
works out cheaper after about 2 years.

My current monitor is about 8 years old so it has cost me about ~£190
in extra power over a LCD, quite a tidy sum.

So in summary an AMD system with an LCD monitor will save me about £390
in running costs over an Intel with a CRT monitor, thats £340 saved when you
add £50 for the LCD monitor, not far off what the system will cost me I
expect.

I expect to pay about £500 for the system and it will be a little easier to
part
with the money knowing I have saved £340 by buying the 'right' system :O)
infact it is probably costing me money running my old system!!! Shock!
Horror!!!

Any comments welcome, also please feel free to check my figures.

Another though just occured to me.....how much do laptops cost to run?????

Would I be better off with one of those? I know their procesors use less
power but I am unsure how much.


Food for though.

Any advice welcome.

I don't use my PC for playing 'zap em up' games or anything like that.

Update on idle the power saving of the AMD processor is 66W or 71W
at idle, 86W or 96W max. According to these figures.

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/processorsmemory/0,39024015,39164010,00.htm

Which makes the £23 figure about £30-£40 per annum.

 

[BlastUK]

go for the mobile processor chips designed for use with laptops, they
consume less power and work just as well for most applications, i
personally use amd but i heard that intel mobile processors are good at
keeping power sonsumption low, as in throttling the processor speed
dynamically depending on load etc..

 

[Rob]

Have a look at this http://www.totally-hardware.co.uk/tutorials/hw/psu/

Rob
www.Totally-Hardware.co.uk