VR Features

Let's take a look at some power consumption figures from the various processors.

 

As mentioned earlier in this article, on maximum power saving mode, the multiplier is locked to 6x irregardless of load level. Hence, as a result we have a processor running at only 1080MHz on full load. This is clearly reflected on the graph where power consumption on load is significantly lower than the other modes.

On auto mode, AI Gear 3+ opts for the maximum power saving mode on idle but turbo mode when the processor is loaded.

 

 

The same results are observed for the E8400 processor. There is comparatively less power is used on load when the maximum power saving mode is chosen.

 

 

 

Again, we note the same results for the Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor. Interestingly, this processor is consuming lesser power at idle as compared to the Core 2 Duo E8400 processor across all modes even though it has four cores, two more than the latter.

 

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To test performance impact caused by the different modes, we have decided to run a synthetic benchmark and two game benchmarks.

The synthetic benchmark was run on Test Setup 1, while the two game benchmarks were run on Test Setup 2.

 

First up is Cinebench 10 on Test Setup 1.

Turbo mode overclocks the FSB and indirectly causing a processor overclock as well, which results in better performance over the high performance mode.

In auto mode, AI Gear 3+ simply loads the turbo mode profile when there is loading. Performance scores end up the same as running AI Gear 3+ manually set to turbo mode.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, all three processors' performance are severely handicapped when the maximum power saving mode is used.

 

  

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Next we decided to run Crysis and World in Conflict, two of the later released games which are very demanding on a PC. The Core 2 Duo E4500 was retired for these tests, so we have results only from the Core 2 Duo E8400 and the Core 2 Extreme QX9650.

 

E8400:

 

In maximum power saving mode, we get much reduced performance as compared the high performance and auto modes.

 

 

It becomes very evident in the World in Conflict test that the maximum power saving mode causes a drastic drop in performance. The processors are reined in at a measly 1800MHz, which is almost half of what they are actually rated to operate at.

 

QX9650:

 

 

Weirdly, we get a strange performance hit while running the quad-core in maximum saving mode. We tried repeating the test over reboots but the results remained the same.

 

 

Maximum saving mode conserves power, but it also reduces performance considerably.