Power Consumption

We measure CPU power consumption since one of our first tasks is to truly verify system stability. I isolate the power coming through the 8-pin ATX connector using an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings, and total wattage passed through. While this may not prove to isolate the CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design. Total system power consumption is no longer reported as this figure can change depending on what VGA is installed. The sole board-only power measurements possible without physically modifying a motherboard are those taken via the 8-pin CPU connector, making it the only figure of value worth reporting. I use wPrime with eight threads selected in its options since it provides a consistently high workload throughout the full length of the test and runs long enough for the VRM and CPU to produce a fair bit of heat. Most average workloads will draw far less than that, although distributed computing applications are quite similar. This is not supposed to test stability since I use several other applications to do so, but merely serves to provide repeatable power draw numbers anyone can replicate. The meter used is an off-the-shelf Zalman unit that has been on the market for some time. In my test environment, it provides results similar to a FLUKE 337 clamp meter.

Fan Control

*Actual fan minimum dependent on installed fan


It took me some time to figure out how the fan-control software works. There's an auto-tuning button, but as you can see in these screenshots, using it didn't seem to change the fan profile itself. I pressed the button and my system was crazy loud! What kind of fan control is this? My system was nice and quiet before I pressed any buttons, but now my ears are bleeding? This stuff is broken!


I stared at the screen for a minute or two in an attempt to figure it out. What it did do was fill the chart to the right of the tool that displays RPMs and percentages. So the software tests each fan's minimums and maximums and expects you to adjust the fan curve to suite your needs. Everything got as loud as it did because I have 100+ CFM fans plugged in, so how big of an initial impact the software is going to have on your ears will depends on which fans you've connected, but things become manageable once you adjust each fan's profile. At first, I felt as though trying this software out was a mistake, but I didn't know what it was doing. That's something you might want to keep in mind before you use it.