Performance per watt

Yes, but encoding videos is still very slow and not possible to do in real time for 1080p yet. Gaming is also really popular and I think plenty will be designed to take full advantage of the new i7's, not to mention that some very old games always take 100% CPU regardless how much it really needs, so yeah.

[David (PassMark)]

Watching high definition movies on the PC is very popular...

This doesn't stress a new CPU. Playback of a high def 1080p movie only gets CPU usage of 12% to 25% depending on the scene. And this is on an older quad core. Hardly the 100% usage you are claiming for a new CPU.

So a Core i7-880 and Core i7-940 probalby use similar power most of the time. Despite the Thermal Design Power of 130W vs 95W.

Not to say we won't do it one day. Just saying the TDP isn't always the best indicator or actual power use.

Further you need to look at what is in the CPU. If the memory controller and video card are in the CPU (like some of the i5 models) then you are saving power on the motherboard by removing componets from the motherboard. And this won't be obvious by just looking at TDP of just the CPU.

Most of the idle power usage figures I have seen on the net are for a full system (i.e. measured at the mains power input, including MB, disk & video card) and not just for the CPU.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CPU_power_dissipation

I used to have a link that showed the idle times for the newer processors but I cant find it at the minute.

I disagree that todays computers rarely work at their maximum. Watching high definition movies on the PC is very popular and there is no such thing as a fast CPU when you are encoding videos, which is also popular among enthusiasts and somewhat less among the general public. Bad, bloated java applications will also account for a lot of CPU usage when morons go to flash-based websites to watch 1080p movies and so on.

This is why it would be good to have an energy efficiency section, for video cards too, as they are famous for being even more power hungry than the CPU. No pressure though, I understand you are doing this for free.

[David (PassMark)]

Yes, it would be good for know PSU limits, and for heat considerrations.

But maybe not so helpful for environmentalists. The figures that are available tend to be the maximum watts the CPU might use when under full load.

CPUs are very rarely under full load. Especially new CPUs with 6 or 12 threads. So the more interesting number is what the CPU uses when idle or low load (the situation most CPUs are in 90% of the time). New CPUs throttle their speed and shut down sections of the chip as required. So a CPU with a very high maximum current draw, might look much more reasonable when idle. Power usage while idle for a wide range of CPUs is hard data to collect.

[TruePurple]

I would be very much for this, registered to the forum to post just such a suggestion before I even saw this thread, it would help environmentalists, and would help people trying to stay within their PSU limits, not to mention providing some help to those who just want to save a few bucks in electricity.

[David (PassMark)]

Yes we have just recently included pricing in the CPU benchmark charts.

The power used by each CPU is harder to collect and keep up to date in an automated fashion however. While it would be nice to have I can't see us adding it in the short term.

[2006]

I see the administrator has now added a performance per dollar section. What would also be good is a performance per watt section too.