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CPU History Tour (1995 - 1999)

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See how various processors perform in application and gaming tests. This article is the first part of a large benchmark project. Part one covers CPU development starting with Pentium Classic and up to Pentium III and Athlon.

Isolated power consumption of the CPU is measured directly on the 5V rail of the PSU using shunt and two voltage meters. Most of the onboard components and even add-on PCI cards are powered from 5V rail in old computers. Therefore I used minimum possible configuration (no audio, no LAN, Matrox Mystique 220 instead of Voodoo3) in order to measure power consumption of the CPU alone as accurately as possible. Dual-socket boards for Pentium Pro and Pentium II 266 are using non-standard OEM power sources which can't be used with my measuring equipment.

The complete system (just the PC, without monitor) power consumption is measured using standard wall socket power meter. Values correspond to the full system configuration, as stated in the Test platforms chapter.




CPU Power Consumption – Idle [W]


Pentium Pro 233 (1024k)
49.2
Pentium Pro 200 (1024k)
44.1
Athlon 600
34.8
Pentium Pro 200 (256k)
31.7
Pentium II 450
17.7
Pentium II 233
16.7
2 × Celeron 433
16.7
Pentium III 500
16.7
Celeron 533
15.6
Celeron 300
14.5
Celeron 333
14.5
Celeron 433
14.5
K6-III 450 (MVP3)
11.2
Pentium 300 MMX
11.2
2 × Pentium II 233 (SDR)
11.2
K6-III 450
10.1
WinChip C6 200
10.1
Pentium 166
10.1
Pentium 233 MMX
10.1
K6-2 450 (MVP3)
10.1
K6 166
9.0
K6 233
9.0
K6-2 300 (FSB 66)
9.0
K6-2 300 (FSB 100)
9.0
K6-III+ 577
9.0
MII-333GP
9.0
Pentium 166 MMX
9.0
K6-2 450
9.0
MII-233GP
9.0
MII @ 300 MHz (PR433)
9.0
K6-2 233
9.0
K6-2 450 (non-cacheable)
9.0
6x86L PR166+
8.9
Pentium III 600EB
7.9
2 × Pentium Pro 233 (256k)
0.0
2 × Pentium II 266 (EDO)
0.0
Hardware Museumwww.hw-museum.cz



CPU Power Consumption – Load (Wprime) [W]


2 × Pentium II 233 (SDR)
58.8
Pentium Pro 233 (1024k)
55.1
Pentium Pro 200 (1024k)
48.1
2 × Celeron 433
46.0
Athlon 600
42.0
MII @ 300 MHz (PR433)
39.1
Pentium II 233
38.9
K6 233
36.9
Pentium Pro 200 (256k)
35.9
Pentium III 500
35.8
Pentium II 450
34.7
Celeron 533
33.8
MII-333GP
32.8
Pentium 300 MMX
32.7
K6-III 450
32.5
K6-III 450 (MVP3)
31.5
Celeron 433
30.6
Celeron 333
28.6
MII-233GP
28.4
K6-III+ 577
27.5
Celeron 300
26.4
K6-2 450
25.2
K6-2 450 (non-cacheable)
25.2
K6 166
24.2
K6-2 450 (MVP3)
24.1
Pentium 233 MMX
22.1
K6-2 300 (FSB 100)
21.0
K6-2 300 (FSB 66)
19.9
Pentium 166
19.9
6x86L PR166+
19.8
Pentium III 600EB
18.8
WinChip C6 200
17.8
Pentium 166 MMX
17.8
K6-2 233
16.6
2 × Pentium Pro 233 (256k)
0.0
2 × Pentium II 266 (EDO)
0.0
Hardware Museumwww.hw-museum.cz



System Power Consumption – Idle [W]


2 × Pentium II 266 (EDO)
130
2 × Pentium Pro 233 (256k)
121
Athlon 600
110
Pentium Pro 233 (1024k)
105
Pentium Pro 200 (1024k)
100
Pentium Pro 200 (256k)
82
2 × Celeron 433
64
Pentium II 233
62
2 × Pentium II 233 (SDR)
62
Celeron 533
62
Pentium III 500
62
Pentium III 600EB
61
Celeron 433
61
Pentium II 450
60
Celeron 300
60
Celeron 333
60
Pentium 300 MMX
59
MII @ 300 MHz (PR433)
58
K6-III 450 (MVP3)
57
K6-III+ 577
57
6x86L PR166+
57
MII-333GP
57
Pentium 233 MMX
57
WinChip C6 200
56
Pentium 166
56
Pentium 166 MMX
56
K6 166
55
K6 233
55
K6-2 300 (FSB 66)
55
K6-2 300 (FSB 100)
55
MII-233GP
55
K6-2 233
55
K6-2 450 (non-cacheable)
55
K6-2 450 (MVP3)
54
K6-2 450
53
K6-III 450
53
Hardware Museumwww.hw-museum.cz



System Power Consumption – Load (Wprime) [W]


2 × Pentium II 266 (EDO)
130
Athlon 600
124
2 × Pentium Pro 233 (256k)
121
2 × Pentium II 233 (SDR)
121
Pentium Pro 233 (1024k)
115
Pentium Pro 200 (1024k)
106
2 × Celeron 433
100
MII @ 300 MHz (PR433)
95
Pentium II 233
91
MII-333GP
89
K6 233
88
Pentium Pro 200 (256k)
88
Pentium II 450
84
Celeron 533
84
Pentium III 500
84
K6-III 450 (MVP3)
83
K6-III 450
83
Pentium 300 MMX
81
Celeron 433
78
K6-III+ 577
76
K6-2 450 (non-cacheable)
75
K6-2 450 (MVP3)
74
Pentium III 600EB
74
Celeron 333
74
K6-2 450
73
MII-233GP
73
Celeron 300
73
K6 166
72
6x86L PR166+
69
K6-2 300 (FSB 100)
67
Pentium 233 MMX
67
K6-2 300 (FSB 66)
65
Pentium 166
64
Pentium 166 MMX
64
WinChip C6 200
63
K6-2 233
62
Hardware Museumwww.hw-museum.cz



High idle power consumption of Pentium II 266 and Pentium Pro is most likely caused by missing ACPI support on i440FX boards. ACPI is required for the OS power management.

Socket 7 processors are surprisingly efficient in idle. Then use only about 9 - 10 W, which is not far from modern CPUs. Those feature number of power saving functions, here of course both frequency and voltage remains the same.


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