Desktop : Higher performance or higher efficiency ?

[Charles Kozierok]

the truth is theres really a dearth of applications that require faster chips for the average user, so i could see why they would now decide to focus more on power efficiency. but fa me, since you axed, since you axed, id ratha have something faster, i dont care about power usage at all on a desktop

Meh. To heck with the average user, they aren't using desktops anyway, they are using silly little toys. Which they will continue to use until the next big thing comes along that requires lots of processing power, and then everything will change again.

There are still plenty of people who do things that require seconds or minutes to complete.

This poll is a false dichotomy because the most powerful CPUs right now are also the most efficient ones.

 

[CHADBOGA]

I want both, but I favour performance.

 

[frozentundra123456]

First I want a better OS than microsoft, octo-core, then power efficiency in that order. It's sad that surfing the internet on my phone is smoother than my computer. (Not page load times, but gpu accelerated scrolling)

But tablet/laptop products should run at the max speed possibles that gets a 12-24 hour battery. Couple that with a user selectable max clock selecting the battery life desired. No point to cut power after 24 hours.

Desktop should have crazy power states.
5/W for internet, videos, random typical uses etc.
100W for CAD, FEA, Compiling, whatever really justifies full power.

If your phone surfs better than your computer, you need a better computer or a better internet connection.

 

[frozentundra123456]

In regard to the poll, I voted for better performance, but I agree with another poster that the more choices are needed.

Power consumption does matter to me, but I am willing to use more power to get better performance. At equal performance, I would be concerned about power consumption.

 

[FreshJR]

If your phone surfs better than your computer, you need a better computer or a better internet connection.

I said smoother not faster. I have a 7970 in my pc.
Scrolling in chrome is done a quarter inch at a time using a mouse. Fine scrolling flickers the screen.
On my laptop, the smooth scrolling is visibly notchy as well. I don't know if that's a synaptic issue or the power of the igpu.

On the contrary my phone, it feels like the page is rendered with 1 pixel shifts instantly as I scroll downwards. The inertial scrolling response is better as well. Its all about the user experience.

You may need a better phone

 

[Smartazz]

For my primary computer I want efficiency, which this laptop does perfectly. For my gaming desktop I don't really care about efficiency since the computer isn't on that often. However, there's only so much fan noise I can take while gaming so I do draw the efficiency limit somewhere.

 

[aigomorla]

higher efficiency would also mean smaller probably, and dats a good thang. i was reading on the web that microATX is disappearing and since i hadnt built a computer in a while i looked on the microcenter website and all the boards are atx, which i dont want. i hardly ever switch out or add anything to my computers anymore but i do like having two dvd's.

are u trolling?

Matx is not gone.
infact ITX branched out which is getting popular.


Higher performance for a desktop machine.
Its a no brainer...
Especially if its a gaming machine.
There is no such thing as the word "efficiency" in a gaming rig.
You'll run into the word "Budget" b4 u get both efficiency and overkill unless ur really blessed financially.

The wattage difference between both is actually as small as leaving a light bulb on.

If that is even too much, well.... maybe a handheld android is your model.

 

[Blandge]

I don't do anything at home that needs a lot of performance besides gaming, so as long as my CPU is not bottlenecking my GPU than I have no incentive to get something more powerful. Might as well work on efficiency and noise reduction. I think a lot of people just want so say that they got "dat GHz" and "dat coarz" despite that fact that they don't use even use it, and those are the really fanboyish people on these forums.

To be quite honest, I don't think I'll be upgrading my desktop CPU for a long time. I'm much more interested in an Ultrabook at the moment.

 

[R0H1T]

I usually go for high per/watt & equally high perf/$ i.e. the best of both worlds ! Also anyone who claims that they're willing to spend 1000$ or more on a CPU every time they get a 10~20% performance bump are either filthy rich or plain stupid ! So unless that amount of performance is earning them big bucks i.e. related to their livelihood I don't see how showing off on that front helps anyone except the part(Intel) maker !

 

[aigomorla]

>.<

I guess more then 70% of u guys here consider me stupid and wasteful >.<

*goes put on my sad panda hat*

 

[Xpage]

I want IPC and Ghz, as well as th eability for those to throttle when I am idle. No desire to return to the old days before power gating when CPUs ran at 100% speed at idle

 

[lagokc]

CPU: I'm actually happy where things are. As long as I can fit a system that I can't even manage to stress into an ITX box I don't see why I need more performance or less power draw from CPU.

GPU: Greater efficiency. High end cards are rediculously fast but the power draw is insane.

 

[R0H1T]

>.<

I guess more then 70% of u guys here consider me stupid and wasteful >.<

*goes put on my sad panda hat*

Perhaps a bit of both or neither of'em :biggrin:

Since I don't know you or the circumstances under which you're saying this I won't specifically put you into that category ! However in general if you're bringing a drag racing car to go to work, when an SUV would do just as good if not better on all counts, then there has to be some justification to that end like how Intel's efficiency always counts as an advantage & AMD is supposed to be the perennial room heater

 

[aigomorla]

Perhaps a bit of both or neither of'em :biggrin:

Since I don't know you or the circumstances under which you're saying this I won't specifically put you into that category ! However in general if you're bringing a drag racing car to go to work, when an SUV would do just as good if not better on all counts, then there has to be some justification to that end like how Intel's efficiency always counts as an advantage & AMD is supposed to be the perennial room heater

if i told you the cooling system on my main PC alone probably drew more power then most of the people who posted here while posting on AT, would that give you a clue?
:whiste:

I have 6 water pumps... 4 radiators, 20 fans, and nearly 3/4 gallon of distilled coolant running though 12 feet of tubing inside my system to cool 80% of the IC's in it.


My PSU is a AX1200


However im the polar opposite when it comes to everything else.
I am building a intel NUC for a HTPC to replace the dying one i have.

My server is a special ULV series from intel which uses xeon laptop processors in tandum.
My FTP/Torrent Box is a pentium G something.. i forget, on a giggy itx board that sits in front of my server's massive firewalls.



so what would i be?
I go all out on my desktop, and then go super efficient on everything else.

 

[Phynaz]

Both.

 

[Phynaz]

Where's the "Anandtech moderators should stay the hell out of these topics instead of inciting intel fanboys" option?

Read the rules, Mod callouts aren't allowed.

 

[gipper53]

I'll take the horsepower, all I can get.

Fuel economy doesn't concern me.

 

[k3n]

With mid-range GPUs taking up 2 pci slots, I'm totally disgusted. Until I see games, i.e. non-console ports, make actual use of 64 bit/8 core processors, & not afraid to utilize 8GB+ of RAM, I'd like my desktop to be more portable... LOL.

 

[Exophase]

Both Intel and AMD have CPUs that are power limited pretty much across their entire range, or turbo boost wouldn't exist. This is true even for Intel's high end processors at AMD's highest power consumption levels. In other words, at this point in the game more efficiency means more throughput means more performance.

Now you could sacrifice every last bit of power in an attempt to push single threaded performance somewhat higher, at the expense of any amount of multithreading whatsoever within the same power budget, but that's clearly not the best plan of action anymore. This is the lesson Intel learned with Netburst and they've done a little better since.

You could say the power limits set by both companies are lower than they could be, but this is rendered moot by unlocked CPUs.

 

[crashtech]

These days there are plenty of low-power options available. Desktops are about horsepower, baby. We'll take efficiency, too, but what is a big immobile desktop good for if it doesn't go fast?

 

[R0H1T]

These days there are plenty of low-power options available. Desktops are about horsepower, baby. We'll take efficiency, too, but what is a big immobile desktop good for if it doesn't go fast?

This is sounding like a broken record, not aiming that at you but there aren't very many games/software that can use 4 true cores let alone hexa/octa variants ! The single biggest bottleneck today is on the software side of things & no matter what you do one cannot brute force their way through his situation & not get a BSOD eventually :|

edit : Unless of course you were aiming for benchmark records exclusively !

 

[OBLAMA2009]

are u trolling?

Matx is not gone.
infact ITX branched out which is getting popular.


Higher performance for a desktop machine.
Its a no brainer...
Especially if its a gaming machine.
There is no such thing as the word "efficiency" in a gaming rig.
You'll run into the word "Budget" b4 u get both efficiency and overkill unless ur really blessed financially.

The wattage difference between both is actually as small as leaving a light bulb on.

If that is even too much, well.... maybe a handheld android is your model.

go look on the microcenter website. all the bundles boards are atx, not matx or itx far as i can tell. do they still make matx? thats still the most convenient form factor axe far axe i can tell, i understand itx is more popular now but aren those rather limited and more expensive?

 

[NTMBK]

My girlfriend's desktop PC looks like this:

And I'd honestly like my next desktop to look like it too. I want an efficient APU which has got serious game, dammit- bring on Broadwell/Kaveri!

 

[OBLAMA2009]

My girlfriend's desktop PC looks like this:

And I'd honestly like my next desktop to look like it too. I want an efficient APU which has got serious game, dammit- bring on Broadwell/Kaveri!

if her desktop looks like that, it will perform like this:

**pic of netbook***


no thanks to sheet like that if you axe me

 

[NTMBK]

if her desktop looks like that, it will perform like this:

**pic of netbook***


no thanks to sheet like that if you axe me

It's got a 2.2GHz Sandy Bridge i3 in it, with 8GB RAM and a 7200RPM hard drive. It's very damn snappy.