CPU Power Usage

Different CPUs use different amounts of power. Power is measured in Watts (W). A CPU usually generates approximately a similar amount of heat (again, in Watts) as it absorbs in terms of electrical power. This then has to be removed using some form of cooling mechanism.

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Power usage (under maximum load, non-overclocked) for your processors can be found here:

Intel CPUs

Pentium 1

Pentium 2

Pentium 3

Pentium 4

AMD CPUs

K5

K6

K7 - Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron, etc

K8 - Sempron, Opteron SC, Athlon 64

K8D - Athlon 64 Dual Core - X2, Opterons, etc

K8L - New Opterons