Just for giggles lets do some power calculations for the AMD systems Vs the Intel ones in gaming. Using
Tom's own figures (with a 7970 for the CPU & GPU load), and the
current cost per KWh here in Ireland.
Intel i5-3570K + 7970 = 320W Power Draw
Cost = 0.32*€0.1895 =
€0.0606/hour.
AMD FX-8350 + 7970 = 370W Power Draw
Cost = 0.37*€0.1895 =
€0.0701/hour.
Lets say you do 4 hours gaming per day:
i5 Cost/year = €0.0606*4*365 =
€88.53/year
FX Cost/year = €0.0701*4*365 =
€102.36/year
Considering the FX is cheaper (about €25 looking at the retailer I get most of my PC hardware from), it'll take me nearly
2 years (discounting inflation etc.) before the Intel actually would save me money on power consumption.
And for the record, I don't game 4 hours a day, somewhere around 10 per week would be a better approximation, then the time is over
6 years. :lol:
Of course if you're stressing the CPU 100% 24/7 the picture changes drastically, but I don't really have any interest in doing that.