Performance per watt

In computing, performance per watt is a measure of the energy efficiency of a particular computer architecture or computer hardware. Literally, it measures the rate of computation that can be delivered by a computer for every watt of power consumed. This rate is typically measured by performance on the LINPACK benchmark when trying to compare between computing systems: an example using this is the Green500 list of supercomputers. Performance per watt has been suggested to be a more sustainable measure of computing than Moore's law.^[1]

System designers building parallel computers often pick CPUs based on their performance per watt of power, because the cost of powering the CPU outweighs the cost of the CPU itself.^[2]

Spaceflight computers have hard limits on the maximum power available and also have hard requirements on minimum real-time performance. A ratio of processing speed to required electrical power is more useful than raw processing speed.^[3]

^ Aitken, Rob; Fellow; Technology, Director of; Arm (12 July 2021). "Performance per Watt Is the New Moore's Law". Arm Blueprint. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
^ Power could cost more than servers, Google warns, CNET, 2006
^ D. J. Shirley; and M. K. McLelland. "The Next-Generation SC-7 RISC Spaceflight Computer". p. 1, 2.

[1] Aitken, Rob; Fellow; Technology, Director of; Arm (12 July 2021). "Performance per Watt Is the New Moore's Law". Arm Blueprint. Retrieved 16 July 2021.

[2] Power could cost more than servers, Google warns, CNET, 2006

[sc-7-3] D. J. Shirley; and M. K. McLelland. "The Next-Generation SC-7 RISC Spaceflight Computer". p. 1, 2.

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