Power Consumption and Overclocking

Readings were taken using a P3 – Kill A Watt digital meter at the power receptacle. The system was placed under full load by looping Crysis demos, running prime95 on each CPU core and performing a system virus scan.

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The Power Consumption on the ECS P45T-A was slightly higher than both of the GIGABYTE P45 solutions. This was somewhat puzzling, as the ECS features less onboard components than either GIGABYTE board. However, the variance was not overly dramatic by any means.

Overclocking

When it comes to overclocking no two people, or two samples for that matter, are alike. Overclocking is like a fine wine, everyone’s taste is going to be different. Overclocking results vary greatly between equipment and users. Some tweakers prefer to run insane voltages to reach extremely high FSB. Some overclockers prefer to run a reasonable voltage to facilitate a safer 24/7 overclock. I fit into the latter category, and always approach my overclock sections with the before mentioned strategy. All settings are tested under an 8 hour torture test with prime 95 running to max out the CPU, and 3Dmark lopping to max out the power draw on the system. However, OC mileage will vary from sample to sample and system to system. Here is my final result:

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This is the only area the board utterly failed to produce adequate results in. With limited voltage adjustments, memory ratios and complete absence of CPU multiplier settings, my ability to OC the board was very limited. I was able to push to the FSB ceiling up to 365 FSB, from the stock setting of 333 FSB. The second numbers merely reflect the Quad pumped ratings of the FSB. I believe my Q9550 tapped out before the board did. Without the ability to lower the CPU multiplier I was stonewalled from proceeding further. The small passive chipset cooler was hot to the touch during this process as well. If you looking for a budget overclocking champ, you may wish to consider other solutions. Once again results will vary greatly between samples and users themselves. 


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