Lowest Power consumption PC with i5/i3

[michael]

Hi Guys,

I have some questions for you, I am constrained to build a lowest power consumption PC as my electricity bills are just eating my money, my i7 3770k machine eating many watt around 88 watts to 109 watts.

I am very curious to build something less than 40 watts or if not then atleast less than 55 watts. My purpose is to just web surfing where I want to open multiple windows on youtube and say play 1080p videos on multiple tabs, I means my PC should handle that. (I don't play games).

I initially thought of Intel G2020 which has Max power 55 watts and then I thought of is 3220 which also has same 55 watts.

And I don't think AMD can come close to it. and yes I am thinking about mini itx motherboard only.

Please advise.

Thanks.

 

[zsolt_93]

If you want just that a <10W class 4 core Bay-Trail cpu will suffice most of the time. And you can build a system for 1-2 hundred $. And fire up the i7 one when you need it. If you need more performance, i suggest a NUC as it has a mobile class cpu usuallly 17W peak, not necesarrily the Intel NUC, there are clones on the market from AsRock/Gigabyte and others and is basically a midrange laptop in a desktop form.

 

[remixedcat]

Looking for one as well for a pfsense box..

 

[Mussels]

wanna sell me that 3770k?


i've got an i3 system and a power meter, i can measure stuff at the wall if you'd like. intel are definitely lower wattage than AMD for current gen stuff.

 

[michael]

wanna sell me that 3770k?

he he! Actually its best looking CPU too with 11 120 tri led fans and remote control and key locking, militarybay switches and its unfortunately still in process of building cant show yet to friends..


Yes, AMD show good colors for video viewing too but watts starts from 88 watts.

http://www.amazon.in/INTEL-NUC-KIT-...F8&refRID=1EYG6XAE2771X1N3W37W#productDetails

this looks good but don't know how much exact watts it takes written is 36 watts and I guess small 19 inch square minitor will it self take 16 to 23w like dell.

 

[RCoon]

I hate to be that guy, but I've used AM1 chips, and they're actually pretty good, and very low TDP. Coupled with an SSD, I saw no problems working on Office 2013 and surfing on Chrome. Video playback was pretty flawless too, tested out a few blurays and the chip handled it just fine.

If everyone doesn't like AMD, then a bog standard G3220 is what I have for my file server, and my parents also use it to stream blurays to their TV and browse the interwebs. Pretty much any low power processor coupled with a small SSD will be hugely beneficial. Small HDD's are always the limiting factor.

 

[michael]

I hate to be that guy, but I've used AM1 chips, and they're actually pretty good, and very low TDP. Coupled with .

Give example/numbers of AM1 chips please.

Edited:-

are these you talking about?



Ohh they run on 25 watts...? G2020 need 55 watts as per specifications.......

Thanks.

 

[zsolt_93]

For a normal pc to get under 100W is a bit too much. I am speaking of 100W at the wall with the monitor as the OP said. That is why i suggested a low power PC that 36W is the adaptor maximum power, basically a laptop adaptor and you will never reach more then 25-30 with that hardware.
My best bet would be downclocking your i7 using something like throttlestop to limit max multiplier to 16 when you are not needing the power and put the PC to sleep when you are not there. That would take you to the 80W range i think and you could see how much economy you make. Even 2 old style light bulbs need more power then 100W.

 

[pigulici]

Why don't you buy a laptop with i7 and ssd?

 

[Toothless]

Could go with an i3, GTX750, and some low-voltage RAM with an SSD for storage. Low-wattage gaming. Take out the GPU for regular video/web surfing.

 

[michael]

Why don't you buy a laptop with i7 and ssd?

I am planning this too after 2 months:-

http://www.ebay.in/itm/Dell-17R-773...8?pt=IN_PC_Laptops&hash=item4d21ac7180&_uhb=1

 

[michael]

For a normal pc to get under 100W is a bit too much. I am speaking of 100W at the wall with the monitor as the OP said. That is why i suggested a low power PC that 36W is the adaptor maximum power, basically a laptop adaptor and you will never reach more then 25-30 with that hardware.
My best bet would be downclocking your i7 using something like throttlestop to limit max multiplier to 16 when you are not needing the power and put the PC to sleep when you are not there. That would take you to the 80W range i think and you could see how much economy you make. Even 2 old style light bulbs need more power then 100W.

I use lot of lighting at home my ceiling it self contents 12 -> 20 watts bulbs, more over gizer just drinks whole power.

 

[michael]

Could go with an i3, GTX750, and some low-voltage RAM with an SSD for storage. Low-wattage gaming. Take out the GPU for regular video/web surfing.

No No! I dont need gaming at all, can see above AM1 chips, those runs on just 23Watt ?

 

[pigulici]

My advise,if the bill for light it is a problem, go with a power laptop with I7(not U versions) and ssd, the model from up I find overpriced...

 

[Mussels]

if you dont need gaming, and all you want is low power - laptops and tablets maybe?

 

[Toothless]

Something like an i5 laptop will be just fine. A teacher of mine had an i5 laptop and it ran pretty well. You can always just hook it up to a tv and use a wireless mouse/keyboard

 

[Recca29]

AM1 platform would be right for you. Try an Athlon 5350 with an Asus AM1MA board.

 

[michael]

AM1 platform would be right for you. Try an Athlon 5350 with an Asus AM1MA board.

May this mini itx

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AM1IA/

dont know why they keep giving those outdated old mouse and keyboard connectors.

 

[RCoon]

Give example/numbers of AM1 chips please.

Edited:-

are these you talking about?
View attachment 58333 View attachment 58334


Ohh they run on 25 watts...? G2020 need 55 watts as per specifications.......

Thanks.

The AM1 motherboards are very cheap, and the AM1 processors are the Kabini Athlon 5350 and below (5150 etc). Very power efficient, very good for simple low TDP machines. Obviously I'd recommend the 5350 over the rest, it's literally a few pounds more than the others for the top performance.

dont know why they keep giving those outdated old mouse and keyboard connectors.

KVM use? That's what we tend to need those connectors at work for.

 

[Recca29]

The AM1 motherboards are very cheap, and the AM1 processors are the Kabini Athlon 5350 and below (5150 etc). Very power efficient, very good for simple low TDP machines. Obviously I'd recommend the 5350 over the rest, it's literally a few pounds more than the others for the top performance.

+1
5350 is a must.

 

[Recca29]

May this mini itx

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AM1IA/

dont know why they keep giving those outdated old mouse and keyboard connectors.

Recommended the other one as it has more pcie slots.
There are some other AM1 boards available; like http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/AM1H-ITX/ it can run using a laptop adapter and has 4 SATA ports.

 

[Final_Fighter]

have you looked at the intel NUC they might be just the thing


http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/overview.html

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7566/intels-haswell-nuc-d54250wyk-ucff-pc-review/6

if its just for basic use they are decently efficient and kinda cool.

also decent graphics for what you need if you game use the desktop but for meadia this should be good dont know on price but last i checked you could get the celrons cheap like under $200 cheap

just found them on newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Intel-Mini-Booksize-Barebone-PCs/BrandSubCat/ID-1157-309

 

[michael]

Recommended the other one as it has more pcie slots.
There are some other AM1 boards available; like http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/AM1H-ITX/ it can run using a laptop adapter and has 4 SATA ports.

Ohhh wow what a info!
Mothetboard with laptop adapter thats great.
Honestly but while searching i also came across intel chips which takes only 10watts like 2900 which are used in some hp all in one pc dont how much power it consumes though as it is more compact.

 

[Mussels]

dont forget about undervolting - you can often take 10-30W off most processors at load with that.


if power was the only factor, you could probably get an android tablet with a dock and keyboard and get a lot done, using the PC when needed for the intensive stuff.

 

[xvi]

I'm always going to recommend ways that don't cost money. First of all, make sure SpeedStep is enabled and working. It will effectively do the undervolting and underclocking for you. Having a high clock speed may not be a bad thing as Intel likes to do a "race to sleep" kind of approach.

If not that, undervolting would probably be your next measure. Basically make sure you're not spending more power than you need to to have your current clock speed.


As an alternative way to cut down on power, I'd make sure you have a LED monitor. That should help too.

It might be worth getting a laptop instead since they're often built to have the best tradeoff between performance and energy efficiency.

intel are definitely lower wattage than AMD for current gen stuff.

Even as a fan of AMD, I can't deny this.

dont forget about undervolting - you can often take 10-30W off most processors at load with that.
if power was the only factor, you could probably get an android tablet with a dock and keyboard and get a lot done, using the PC when needed for the intensive stuff.

+1 for undervolting, +1 for android tablet (although screen size might be an issue)

have you looked at the intel NUC they might be just the thing

Also +1. NUCs should be rather energy efficient.