It's interesting to note the power consumption across all motherboards. Although they both motherboards are using the A75 chipset, energy results can fluctuate between manufacturers due to the features and specifications that are integrated. First of all, for the idle tests the system is cold booted into Windows and no additional applications are executed - the watts are noted on the external energy monitor we use and then the system is loaded with LinX 0.6.4 and MSI Kombustor simultainiously - watts are again monitored throughout the period of testing and the highest rated wattage result is then noted down. Below are the results of this energy test.
Foxconn take the cake here with significantly lower power draw, especially with the discrete HD 6570, is this the result of using digital power management? With the A8-3850 the peak load did jump a fair bit higher than on the GIGABYTE GA-A75M-UD2H.
Motherboard Temperatures
Motherboard temperatures can change depending on what features the motherboard has onboard. The Foxconn A75M, having digital power management, was more likely to have a much cooler temperature. The FCH heatsink too was cool to the touch in comparison to the GIGABYTE motherboard which was fairly hot to the touch. Delta temperatures were taken from a mean temperature of idle and loaded states. It is clear to see that Foxconn are keeping it cool.
