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, such as Google's hardware, 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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