Intel Core 2 Quad S-Series shaves power consumption to 65W
In a relatively hush-hush manner, Intel recently slipped out energy saving versions of its Core 2 Quad Q8200, Q9400 and Q9550 CPUs, all of which are suffixed with a simple "s." Put simply, these S-Series chips are built using the same 45 nanometer process technology as used on the regular models, and aside from TDP, all the specifications are exactly alike. The difference comes in power consumption, as the S crew sucks down just 65 watts compared to 95 watts in the standard issue models. Tom's Hardware had a chance to handle, benchmark and report on these new power sippers, and lucky for you, they found performance to be equal to that of the higher power chips. Granted, you'll have to pony up a few extra bucks in order to treat Mother Earth (and your energy bill) better, but at least we're working down the power ladder instead of the other way around.
In a relatively hush-hush manner, Intel recently slipped out energy saving versions of its Core 2 Quad Q8200, Q9400 and Q9550 CPUs, all of which are suffixed with a simple "s." Put simply, these S-Series chips are built using the same 45 nanometer process technology as used on the regular models, and aside from TDP, all the specifications are exactly alike. The difference comes in power consumption, as the S crew sucks down just 65 watts compared to 95 watts in the standard issue models. Tom's Hardware had a chance to handle, benchmark and report on these new power sippers, and lucky for you, they found performance to be equal to that of the higher power chips. Granted, you'll have to pony up a few extra bucks in order to treat Mother Earth (and your energy bill) better, but at least we're working down the power ladder instead of the other way around.
