Blu-ray and Gaming Power Consumption
In order to produce comparable numbers to previous CPU articles I ran the same power test in my Zotac review as I did in other CPU reviews. While the x264 encode test is good for stressing the CPU, it doesn’t do anything to the GPU. So what does power consumption look like when you’re pushing the GPU? Interestingly enough: not very different:
Playing back a Blu-ray movie using the 9300’s PureVideo engine actually uses less power than when the GPU is idle and the CPU is running at 100%. Remember that NVIDIA’s PureVideo decode engine is separate from the 3D rendering engine, it’s a highly specialized piece of the die useful only for video decode. As a result, it’s highly power efficient.
| Idle Power | x264 Encoding Power Consumption | Blu-ray Playback Power Consumption | World of Warcraft Power Consumption | |
| Zotac Ion-A | 25W | 28.2W | 28.0W | 34.0W |
The story is very different when you look at total system power consumption while playing World of Warcraft. We see our highest power consumption in this scenario since both the CPU and the SPs on the GPU are working in parallel.
While my Blu-ray CPU utilization numbers were taken without a BD drive attached, it’s worth noting that simply connecting an optical drive to the system can significantly increase power consumption. With my Sony Blu-ray drive plugged in to Zotac’s Ion board the system’s idle power consumption went up from 25W to 29W - that’s a 16% increase.
I would provide load power measurements with a Blu-ray drive attached but PowerDVD 9 started to complain about an incompatible graphics driver and refused to play any encrypted Blu-ray content. Note that this was the same install I ran my original Blu-ray playback tests on, simply several reboots and a couple of game installs later. Unfortunately it continues to be more user friendly to circumvent Blu-ray disc encryption to watch movies you own than to simply insert the disc and watch them on the PC. What would we do without AnyDVD HD.
Final Words
Availability of the Zotac Ion A boards (with the dual-core Atom 330) is still pretty limited (Newegg only has the single-core version in stock) but I still stand by it being a good little motherboard. I personally wouldn’t touch the single-core version unless it was just being used for a file server or something similarly light on the CPU, in which case it might make sense to snag the cheaper Intel version.
For now the Ion looks like a good platform, although I do wonder what will come of it next year. Intel isn’t very happy about NVIDIA’s Apple coup and the recent attention of Ion. If Intel doesn’t enable seamless HD video playback with Pineview then NVIDIA deserves to see Ion grow into a success. Oh and Intel, if you’re listening, 8-channel LPCM audio over HDMI would be a nice plus (I’ll be extra happy if we get bitstreaming of HD audio codecs).
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Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
The Logitech G5 actually sets this option to true by default in Windows Vista, and yes it was enabled. I'm still waiting to hear back from Zotac on it.Take care,
Anand
Badkarma - Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - link
Thanks for writing something on the Wake on USB issue, it's really too bad Zotac leaves this feature out on HTPC-centric mobos.icrf - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
I'm more curious about HD flash video, like Dr. Horrible on Hulu, or NCIS on CBS, or Heroes on NBC, than I am about SD flash scaled to HD resolutions. I haven't had major issues with SD hulu on my Atom netbook, but the HD content would be nice, especially considering how awesome this would be as an HTPC.But, that aside, wake-on-usb for a remote is the primary concern. Keep hounding them for us. :)
icrf - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
Also, on scaling flash video to full screen, I think there are underlying problems. My C2D E6600 can't smoothly scale flash video on my WQXGA moniter. I checked task manager, and the CPU isn't maxed out, but the video is pretty jumpy. My 1024x600 Atom netbook does just fine. Different browsers don't make any difference on either box.ltcommanderdata - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
I wonder if you could do a review of the GN40 chipset and compare it to the 945G and Ion. The GN40 and the GMA 4000 may not be as fast as the nVidia 9300, but it seems that the primary limitation in gaming is Atom itself anyways even with Ion. The GN40 is supposed to offer accelerated 720p playback so it may well be good enough on the multimedia side.It also wouldn't surprise me if the GN40/GMA4000 is what is integrated into Pineview.
icrf - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
I thought the HD-decoding GPU wasn't actually an Intel part? If that's the case, it's doubtful the current GPU is what makes it on-die.MadMan007 - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
Is it possible wake on USB is a chipset problem? Do other manufacturer's GF9300/9400 motherboards have no issue waking from USB?Anyway Atom is still a little too underwhelming to me for what I'd look to use it for. I'd rather go with the Zotac 9300ITX LGA775 and a cheap C2D-based Celeron. Poor flash video playback just kills it, maybe Adobe will make those things GPU-accelerated in the future. If that or other tasks that require some modicum of CPU grunt weren't expected I'd get a 945-based Atom board.
plschwartz - Friday, September 4, 2009 - link
I think I read that the 9300 775 board in newer revisions now wake on USB But the earlier versions are still sold in US.I am going to Hong Kong next month and will get board there.
How on this board can one find out the revision number?
Thanks