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TEST RESULTS
Our test system features a Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition with unlocked multiplier,
a Zerotherm Zen FZ120 CPU cooler with Nexus 120mm fan connected to a variable
DC fan controller so the fan's power draw does not come into play. The rest
of the system consists of two sticks of Corsair Dominator DDR3 memory running
at 1333MHz (9-9-9-24) in dual channel, an Asus Blu-ray drive, a 5400RPM notebook
hard drive and an OEM Seasonic 400W power supply. 128MB of system memory was
assigned to the IGP in addition to the included SidePort memory.
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Test Results
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Test State
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X3 720 BE @
2.8Ghz (C&Q)
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X3 720 BE @
1.6Ghz (0.9125V)
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Mean
CPU
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System Power
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Mean
CPU
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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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54W
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N/A
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50W
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Rush Hour
(H.264)
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7%
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~57W
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3%
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~56W
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Coral Reef
(WMV-HD)
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21%
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~64W
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22%
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~56W
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Drag Race
(VC-1)
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35%
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~71W
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40%
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~58W
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Disturbia
(Blu-ray H.264)
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20%
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~70W
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23%
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~61W
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CPU Load
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N/A
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117W
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N/A
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63W
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CPU + GPU
Load
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N/A
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135W
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N/A
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82W
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C&Q minimum state: 800MHz, 1.025V.
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With a high speed triple core processor at stock settings, our regular IGP
video playback tests were easily handled by the M4A78T-E. Typically we use a
lower speed dual core processor to more easily gauge differences in CPU utilization,
but there are no dual core processors on the market for AM3 socket yet. Power
consumption was fairly good — on average we see idle and CPU load power consumption
of 40W and 90-95W respectively on an AM2+ motherboard with a 45W X2 processor.
The M4A78T-E with a 95W X3 720 increases power usage by only 15-20W.
The lowest CPU multiplier the BIOS would allow was 8x, resulting in a minimum
clock speed of 1.6GHz. We were able to get the CPU stable at this speed with
a core voltage of only 0.9125V, lower than the 1.025V the processor runs at
when idle using Cool 'n' Quiet (though C&Q reduces the CPU speed to 800MHz
when idle). This reduced power consumption when idle and during video playback
by 5-10W. CPU usage was comparable underclocked — an AM3 system is overkill
for media playback alone.
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CPU-Z screenshot: Phenom II X3 720 idling with C&Q functioning.
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CPU-Z screenshot: Phenom II X3 720 minimum underclock/undervolt.
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