Thursday, December 13th 2007
AMD Fudges Power Consumption Figures by Making Up Power Consumption Rating System
When AMD released the K10 micro-architecture, which included Phenom and Barcelona, they unfortunately neglected to mention that they had also released an entirely new way to benchmark power consumption and thermal output. AMD's Average CPU Power system, or "ACU" for short, is a new way to measure the amount of power a CPU really requires, and consequently, the heat it puts out. AMD, when asked, claimed that their way of measuring things was comparable to the TDP system. However, independent results reveal otherwise.
AMD's great quad-core Phenom-based Opteron got a reasonable 75W power consumption rating using AMD's system. However, when put under the traditional TDP test, the Opteron quickly heated up to requiring 95W. Stunned, the testers tried again, and the same CPU got a remarkable 115W TDP load. The full version of the chart is available at the source link. For comparison, Intel's biggest and baddest quad-core CPU uses 120W TDP full load.
Source:
DailyTech
AMD's great quad-core Phenom-based Opteron got a reasonable 75W power consumption rating using AMD's system. However, when put under the traditional TDP test, the Opteron quickly heated up to requiring 95W. Stunned, the testers tried again, and the same CPU got a remarkable 115W TDP load. The full version of the chart is available at the source link. For comparison, Intel's biggest and baddest quad-core CPU uses 120W TDP full load.
24 Comments on AMD Fudges Power Consumption Figures by Making Up Power Consumption Rating System
you're right they get hot!
Yeah, this sucks for AMD. I'm pulling for them, and even considered going to thier spider platform, but they keep shooting themselves in the foot (and kneecaps and hands etc).:(
I'm not condoning what AMD did by any means. I think they should have stuck to the high road on this one. But to call out AMD and insult them, etc, is asinine, considering that your beloved intel has been doing everything under the sun illegally and/or being purposefully misleading (aka flat out lying). Way to beat up on the little guy that is incredibly ethical and has given is so much in the market. I truly believe the market would be doomed (mostly in x86 tech.) without AMD. Think of Walmart when you think of intel, and think of the hard working, caring, little store when you think of AMD. That's what they are, and we all know what Walmart is doing for this country (helping to destroy it if you haven't caught on yet).
So, if you still haven't understood - AMD deserves no ridiculous remarks, intel deserves all of the bashing that they get (just like M$, etc). See, the difference? One is evil and one is not. One tries to screw everyone over (by illegal means) and the other is trying to survive (being ethical and caring to the market).
I don't see how giving negative remarks that are due is hypocritical. Now, if I totally bash intel for changing their model numbers to make the product sound better (or something of the equivalence that we're talking about here), then that would hypocritical.
so if i fail at a test i should make my own and try to pass it off as the same thing?
i say that both sides (AMD and Intel) need to quit fighting. This is ridiculous. I mean comeon people we have better things to argue about instead of who's getting more negative press, I think Zek remembers my hotheadedness about his Blu Ray article, I certainly havent forgotten. But I do admit I was hotheaded about the whole issue and for that i do apologize to zek, for what I said to him.
All forgiven Zek?:toast::toast:
only kidding only kidding :D:D:D
ACP has more to do with the cost of the power used. Finding an average wattage draw, through real-time usage.
TDP is more about the maximum wattage a cpu can draw through heavy stress situations, and is used to determine cooling, and your power requirements.
Really two different things, and don't have a whole lot to do with each other. If AMD's TDP jumps up 15W, that maximum is just a blip on the average reading for the ACP. More than likely wouldn't affect it at all.
Think about how much time your cpu spends idle. Sure, you can pop it up to full load (i.e. TDP), but it's not going to be there all the time, making TDP useless for determining power cost effectiveness. AMD obviously figured out a way to keep their average usage lower comparatively to Intel, and marketed it as a positive. This is entirely normal. Nothing wrong with bragging about your strengths. It's not like they were hiding their TDP either, as it's still an important factor, but being that it's worse, probably a good move not to highlight it.
Best way I understand it at least.