All power supplies being =

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

All power supplies being the same, will I see a drop in power/electrical use in light to moderate use going from a under-clocked i7 920 to a 3770K system? My current main rig, in sig idles around 100w via wall reader. I occasionally do video editing and don't mind the extra cost for a 3770K or 3770.. in fact I think I can get a 3770K for 259$ at MC the last sale I seen

 

[Ken g6]

Most likely, yes. Although that depends on how much you underclock and undervolt. (Undervolting makes a huge difference. I've seen my Q9400@2GHz, <1V, with onboard graphics, at under 70W under load!)

That said, all power supplies are not the same, you won't get a big drop with a 650W PSU, and the power use difference isn't worthwhile in terms of money saved. I suggest you wait for at least Haswell; it's supposed to be even more power efficient.

If you do decide to get IB for some reason, don't want to overclock, and want to only use discrete graphics (no Quick Sync), consider the Xeon E3 1230 V2, for both power efficiency and price.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Based off the results of the AT benchmarks you would see a drop in idle, but not enough to really warrant the cost of the chip. The load power consumption seems a bit better but the real advantage at the end of the day is still going to be the performance figures.

 

[mfenn]

Based off the results of the AT benchmarks you would see a drop in idle, but not enough to really warrant the cost of the chip. The load power consumption seems a bit better but the real advantage at the end of the day is still going to be the performance figures.

Agree. If you're buying a new mobo and CPU other reasons, the extra power efficiency of an Ivy Bridge chip is gravy. It isn't worth it just on the basis of power efficiency alone however. It will take quite a long time to make back that $350-400 in terms of reduced power usage.

 

[Ken g6]

Having done some research, it looks like power costs in NYC are rather higher than elsewhere. How much, in total, does power cost you, in cents per KWh?

Next, recall that 80 PLUS only certifies PSU efficiency down to 20% of their rated power. So for your 650W, that's 130W internal draw. Any less internal draw and you're not getting the full 87% efficiency from your gold PSU. Your internal system is drawing less than 87% of what's drawn at the wall, so that's at most 82W; probably less.

Therefore, unless you plan to upgrade your main system's video card soon, one way to save power might be to swap the 650W PSU to your UT3 machine, and add a 380W bronze PSU to your main machine.

How much money this would save you - if any - would depend on your electricity rate, how much of the time you leave your machine on, and how much more efficient this PSU is at your usual idle power usage. If you leave your machine on all the time, you might make the money back within 1-2 years, not counting what swapping the 650W PSU to the UT3 machine would do. In the worst case, it might raise your idle power by 5W and/or cost you money to ship the new PSU back.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I just don't want to wait till it's too late to unload this i7 920 main rig.. i could save a few bucks to reinvest but you guys just confirmed what I was thinking.. not enough

I've done my PSU homework.. I probably could go with a smaller PSU to hit the peak efficiency curve ... I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place - boo, hehe

I intend to look at Haswell when it comes out. If it doesn't have atleast an all around 15% increase in performance/IPC and overclock like mad then i'm gonna throw my hands up in the air and say "I give!"