question on cpu power consumption < --> battery

how much of a difference is there in battery consumption when comparing a c2d 1.66 Ghz and a c2d 2.0 Ghz cpu? i'm curious about this. i would assume the impact would be little, definitely under 10 percent.

 

The nominal power consumption difference does not matter since you are getting done whatever it is you do faster on a 2.0 ghz

 

the difference in speed is only about %15 faster. but seriously, does anybody know personally or have links to this type of comparison?

 

I don't know of any benchmarks of this. Would be interesting if you find any. They're basically the same CPU's, manufactured the same way with the same process on the same production line. The only difference is that one is "overclocked" by 340 MHz. That would seem to suggest that the faster CPU consumes a fair bit more power (at least 15%, since it usually doesn't scale linearly).

But on the other hand, well, the reason it's allowed to run 2GHz may just be that it's more efficient and so consumes less power at the same speed, in which case the difference would be less.

 

They're both run at the same voltages, and have the same top TDP (Typical Dissipation Power), so they should basically be identical. Clock rates shouldn't affect it any unless the voltages are increased for the higher clock speeds. But for doing the same jobs, they'll both dissipate the same amount of power, and if you need the extra cycles, they'll be there in the 2.0GHz machine. FYI, I get over 3 hours of battery life with my 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, which is right in line with what other people with the same machine report.