[daveguy]

I'm not sure this is the right way to look at it.

If you take it to an extreme the flaw is apparent. Let's say "bogomips" is the name of a real world accurate benchmark.

If a CPU at full performance gives 100 bogomips at 2 watts and idles at 1 watt by your metric the score is 50.

On the other hand, if a CPU at full performance gives 200 bogomips at 2 watts and idles at a small fraction under 2 watts, your metric also gives a score of ~50.

It's obvious the 200 bogomips processor is way more efficient than the 100 bogomips processor. Something is missing.

I think both idle watts and TDP are somewhat irrelevant. Maybe it should be bogomips / actual watt draw (different from nominal TDP) at full speed. Assuming you can keep the processor busy. Not being able to keep the processor busy doesn't really reflect on processing efficiency. Except that it is better for the wasted watts to be as low as possible.

A true efficiency, like a true benchmark is elusive, because what is "normal use"? Somewhere between "no work, all waste" and "full use, maximum efficiency".

[eightysixfour]

I’m not these metrics are getting to the root problem:

The 13900KS boosts to 6ghz at 320w.

The 13900K boosts to 5.8ghz at 253w.

That’s a 3.4% increase in clock speed at the cost of a 26.5% increase in power. The marginal power cost for the frequency increase is way out of line.

[credit_guy]

Also, only 2 of the 24 processors boost to 6 ghz.

  "but the extra 'S' in the name denotes that this is premium-binned silicon that hits 6 GHz on two cores — 200 MHz faster than the 12900K"

[nixpulvis]

Easy(ish) solution. Just have two CPUs. Turn off the fast one when idle. This is what some architectures already do at various levels.

[washadjeffmad]

I do this in effect. For things that don't rely on high core counts and memory bandwidth, advanced CPU or GPU features, or complex environments, I use a $150 Chromebook.

These new Intels are desktop CPUs. They also have Performance and Efficiency cores. Ideally, they'd prioritize using E-cores, and only as many as needed to complete tasks within an acceptable period. In effect, though, they're not very smart, and you've got to get into overclocking and undervolting to get them into a state that resembles AMD's TDP-limited ECO Mode that provides 80% of the performance at 50% of the power.