AnandTech takes a quick look at the power consumption of three chipsets that feature an Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP). The mainboards tested were the Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H (AMD 780G), ASUS P5E-VM HDMI (Intel G35), and Biostar TF8200 A2+ (Nvidia GF8200).
Processors used for the tests were the following:
- AMD Athlon LE1600 and Intel Core 2 Duo E2200 (minimum spec processors)
- AMD 4850e X2 and Intel E7200 (middle ground performance)
- AMD Phenom 9550 and Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 (entry-level quad-core processors)
"... the results today should provide a better indication to each platform's power requirements with a variety of CPUs likely to end up in these boards and applications that tend to stress those same processors. Unless the next NVIDIA driver set increases power consumption, then we have a surprise winner between the latest IGP chipsets from the big three. The next question we will answer is performance per watt and those results are likely to lead us down another path." [AnandTech | IGP Power Consumption - 780G, GF8200, and G35]
The motherboard that had the lowest power consumption was the Biostar that featured the Nvidia GF8200 chipset. This was true, regardless of what processor it had on.
As AnandTech puts it, Power Consumption is something to consider, when looking to build a quiet PC rig with integrated graphics on the motherboard.
If you are looking to build a new PC box based on the AMD 790FX / SB600 chipset, you are in luck. HardwareZone has a roundup of 4 AMD 790FX mainboards from Asus, DFI, Gigabyte, and MSI.
