What is performance-per-system-watt?
Performance-per-system-watt is calculated by taking the performance score from a benchmark or application and dividing it by the average system power usage (AC power from the wall). The corresponding performance/power or performance-per-watt scores are normalized to a baseline platform for comparison purposes. In these measurements, prior-generation Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6850 (3.00GHz, 8MB L2 cache, 1333MHz FSB, 65nm) is the base platform (1.0).

Intel focuses on performance per watt comparisons using power measured at the system level as opposed to component level TDP or max power ratings. Measured system level power is a more accurate representation of the customer's true energy cost.

Manufacturing parallel workflow energy efficiency:

SPECapc* SolidWorks* 2007 and Fluent* 6.3.26 L1/L2 workloads:
Rapid prototyping is required in today's competitive manufacturing world. Designers that can do analysis on the front-end of the production cycle can shave time off the total PLM cycle. In this example, SPECapc for SolidWorks 2007, a popular CAD package using the SPECapc workload that runs through a series of tests to emulate the day-in-the-life of a typical user, is paired together with Fluent, a well-known computational fluid dynamics software package using the L1/L2 standard benchmarks for analyzing air flow over a vehicle. An expert user can analyze this data on the fly and make the adjustments to the model as needed before sending the model to the next stage of higher fidelity analysis. The two applications are run in parallel and a total of five times each for the average completion time which is then converted to jobs per day. The performance per watt or energy efficiency is calculated by taking the jobs per day score and dividing by the average watts during the run.

Configuration details:

Source: Intel internal measurements TR#783 as of April 18, 2008.

Intel® X38 Express Chipset workstation platform:
Intel X38 Express Chipset-based "Bearlake" CRB with one Intel Core™2 Extreme dual-core processor E8400 (6 MB cache, 3.00 GHz, 1333 FSB, 45nm) or one Intel Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor QX9650 (12 MB cache, 3.00 GHz, 1333 FSB, 45nm) processor. Microsoft Windows XP* Professional x64 Edition SP1.

Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel® products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, visit Intel Performance Benchmark Limitations.

Relative performance for each benchmark is calculated by taking the actual benchmark result for the first platform tested and assigning it a value of 1.0 as a baseline. Relative performance for the remaining platforms tested was calculated by dividing the actual benchmark result for the baseline platform into each of the specific benchmark results of each of the other platforms and assigning them a relative performance number that correlates with the performance improvements reported.

Intel processor numbers are not a measure of performance. Processor numbers differentiate features within each processor series, not across different processor sequences. See http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number for details.

Intel products are not intended for use in medical, life saving, life sustaining, critical control or safety systems, or in nuclear facility applications. All dates and products specified are for planning purposes only and are subject to change without notice.

Intel does not control or audit the design or implementation of third party benchmarks or Web sites referenced in this document. Intel encourages all of its customers to visit the referenced Web sites or others where similar performance benchmarks are reported and confirm whether the referenced benchmarks are accurate and reflect performance of systems available for purchase.