T series any good?

S

silverwolf0

Gawd
Joined
Jan 14, 2004
Messages
613
I am reading mixed messages about the T series. Some say it doesn't matter and you are paying more when they all idle the same anyway and when they ramp up the higher power one will finish faster. Others like the 35W TDP. Thats the main thing I'm looking at as well. The 4130 3.4ghz 54w is around $118, the cheapest. The 4130T 2.9ghz 35w is around $130. There's also the newer 4150 3.5ghz 54w for $130 and a 4350 3.6ghz 54w for $150 and comes with HD4600 while the others have an hd4400 although I will be using a gtx 750ti anyway. I'm really looking for a no hassle processor that's low power that I won't be downclocking/overclocking and is decently fast. I am not sure if the 19w difference is worth the loss of 500mhz for the T series, and how much the T series actually saves over the regular since TDP isn't reflective of actual power use.
 
I have the 4130 in my htpc. The higher clock just seemed like a safer way to go vs the 4130T. I wasn't shooting for the lowest possible power footprint, but I did want a less power hungry machine then my last htpc.
I think the power difference is negligible between them.
 
Think of it in terms of cars. A high horsepower machine like say the newer mustangs when driven like a granny can do 50+MPG I think I saw them do a really long test on a track or something with rather silly MPG's a few years back.

BUT if you floor it non stop it'll be down in the 5MPG range. Same thing happens in CPU's. The non T series may use more power while under load but it also finishes faster so they very well could end up averaging out to the same power draw. I personally wouldn't bother with the T series
 
I got a power meter this weekend and played around with my computers at home seeing how many watts they pull from the wall. My htpc under normal use (web browsing, watching videos, transferring files) never hit over 44w from the wall. Only when running a game did the watts jump a lot. Running Crysis 3 the highest I seen was 104w. Most of the time it floated between 92w-98w while gaming.

Here's what's in my htpc:
Intel i3-4130
2x2GB Kingston 1866mhz
1x Corsair Force 3 240GB SSD
GTX-750Ti SC
140mm Fan, 2x 90mm intake fans
Windows 8.1
 
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I would honestly stay away from the T series as it is better to have the extra power and not use it than need it and not have it. Also if you want to lower power draw in the future you can always lower the multi and voltage to take the processor down to T levels
 
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