C2D power consumption vs S939 AMDX2?

[travbrad]

I'm planning to upgrade my mobo/cpu/ram soon (looking at an E8400, and an ASUS P5Q mobo), and I was just wondering how the power consumption compares to this old socket939 X2 4200+ I'm currently running. It's not a big deal if I have to get a new PSU too, but I'm curious if I could get by with my current one? If anyone can offer any tips/knowledge in this regard it will be greatly appreciated.

BTW, this is my current PSU

Also, I realize there are many articles detailing the power consumption of CPUs, but I couldn't find anything directly comparing modern C2D processors to socket939.

 

[Zero82z]

The Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (S939 version) has a TDP of 89W, while the C2D E8400 has a TDP of 65W. AMD chips generally run fairly close to their TDP ratings, while Intel chips usually use a fair amount less power than they're rated for, so there'll be a pretty decent drop in CPU power consumption if you keep it running at stock.

As for your PSU, it should be enough to handle the parts you're planning to buy. However, it's an older model and lacks active PFC, and it's probably degraded somewhat due to age. If you have room in your budget, I would suggest a PSU upgrade as well. Anything >=400W will do the trick and have room to spare for extra HDs and a good dedicated video card.

 

[travbrad]

Thanks for the reply, good to know. I never knew the S939 were so power hungry. I used to run it on a generic 300watt PSU Now that I think about it, I was able to bump my OC an extra 300mhz when I got this PSU (along with my X850XT) though

I may try to run the C2D for a bit on this PSU, but I'm going to convince my brother to buy me a new PSU in exchange for my ram/cpu/mobo/psu (he's running an old barton2500+) That way I can get a solid overclock and upgrade my video card in the future.

 

[Zero82z]

Thanks for the reply, good to know. I never knew the S939 were so power hungry. I used to run it on a generic 300watt PSU Now that I think about it, I was able to bump my OC an extra 300mhz when I got this PSU (along with my X850XT)

They're not power hungry per se, it's just that the Core 2s are very power efficient.