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TEST RESULTS
Our test system is fairly basic, featuring an OEM 80 Plus power supply, notebook
hard drive and Blu-ray drive. The CPU is a X2 4850e, a mid-level dual core 45W
processor. It is cooled by a stock AMD heatpipe cooler with PWM fan connected
to a variable DC fan controller (so the fan's power draw does not come into
play).
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Test Results: Asus M3A78-T
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Test State
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X2 4850e @ 2.5Ghz, C&Q
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X2 4850e @ 1.5Ghz/1.0V
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Mean CPU Use
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Peak CPU Use
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System Power
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Mean CPU Use
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Peak CPU Use
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System Power
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Off
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N/A
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2W
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N/A
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2W
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Sleep (S3)
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N/A
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3W
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N/A
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3W
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Idle
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N/A
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44W
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N/A
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48W
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Rush Hour
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5%
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10%
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~70W
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8%
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14%
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~53W
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Coral Reef
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38%
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48%
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~70W
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50%
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61%
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~52W
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Flight Sim.
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64%
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79%
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~72W
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73%
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88%
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~53W
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Drag Race
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67%
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79%
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~73W
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76%
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86%
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~53W
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CPUBurn
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N/A
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87W
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N/A
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55W
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CPUBurn + ATITool
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N/A
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103W
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N/A
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70W
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At stock settings, the test system drawed 44W from the wall at idle, 70-73W
during video playback, and 87W with full CPU load. When the IGP was stressed
with ATITool, total power consumption jumped by 16W — the highest increase
we have encountered with an onboard graphics subsystem. Whether it performs
well or not, it is more power hungry compared to other recent IGPs. The video
playback results were good — about on par with previous AMD IGPs.
When we underclocked the CPU to 1.5Ghz, the system failed to render our VC-1
clips properly. The Flight Simulator clip was plagued by audio clipping, and
the Drag Race clip exhibited audio distortions as well as framerate fluctuations.
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Test Results: Comparisons @ 2.5Ghz, C&Q
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Test State
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Gigabyte
GA-MA74GM-S2
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Asus
M3A78 Pro
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Asus
M3A78-T
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Mean CPU Use
|
System Power
|
Mean CPU Use
|
System Power
|
Mean CPU Use
|
System Power
|
|
Off
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N/A
|
2W
|
N/A
|
2W
|
N/A
|
2W
|
|
Sleep (S3)
|
N/A
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2W
|
N/A
|
3W
|
N/A
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3W
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Idle
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N/A
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31W
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N/A
|
39W
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N/A
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44W
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Rush Hour
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42%
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~58W
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6%
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~64W
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5%
|
~70W
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Coral Reef
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37%
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~58W
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42%
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~65W
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38%
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~70W
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Flight Sim.
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64%
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~63W
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71%
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~69W
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64%
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~72W
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Drag Race
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69%
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~66W
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73%
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~69W
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67%
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~73W
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CPUBurn
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N/A
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92W
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N/A
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82W
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N/A
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87W
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CPUBurn + ATITool
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N/A
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97W
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N/A
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94W
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N/A
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103W
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The M3A78-T
consistently runs about 5W higher than the 780G based M3A78
Pro, except with both the IGP and the CPU at max load, when it jumps to 9W. This
may indicate that the HD3300 graphics subsystem has higher idle power consumption,
though it may also be the power requirements of the M3A78-T board"s
extensive feature-set.
The Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2,
the most energy efficient mainstream AMD motherboard we've encountered, draws
6-13W less power.
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