Motherboard specs/signs that indicate lower power?

[jvroig]

Heya,

I've just been scouring a few mATX and some ATX motherboards. What I don't know how to look for is a spec/sign/hint about their effective power consumption. I'm not actually sure if such a thing exists.

Is there a quick rule-of-thumb or ballpark way to determine which among two motherboards would consume less power? Is there anything in particular in the spec sheet I should look for, or will it really be dependent on a live test so I'll have to find a review of any board I'm looking at?

Is it also generally the case that mATX will have better (lower) platform power consumption than its ATX counterpart? I'm assuming so, but I'm not really well-versed enough in motherboard power consumption matters to make this determination myself.

Thanks.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I would say that boards indicating lower wattage specs for CPU support would generally indicate lower power consumption. Fewer VRM's and a 4 pin board plug. Newest possible CPU support. All guesses on my part though. It's the opposite of what I usually look for which is highest wattage CPU support.

 

[Deders]

Efficient VRM's are going to be the key to low power boards. That is why my board draws 20w less than other similar P55 boards.