I understand has put Intel focus onto increasing the efficiencies of their CPUs, but I'm unsure how to interpret this in the wider context of a desktop CPU.
I am looking to replace my laptop with a small desktop, as my laptops CPU is underpowered, and (in broad strokes), I'm trying to understand the typical power consumption difference (at near idle) between 2 systems running Linux, and powered on 24/7 but used mainly for office tasks like browsing, ssh windows, light GUI stuff, although occasionally there will be some heavy lifting like transcoding video.
The first is an old workstation PC with an i7-3770k CPU, 32 gigs RAM and SSD. Although the CPU has a TDP of 77 watt, the entire system draw is typically about 60 watts according to my meter.
As a ballpark, what would I expect something like an Intel NUC with 8th or 9th gen i5 processor to draw - total - on average. (I see that an i5-8279U CPU, which gets slightly better performance has a TDP of 28 watts.
Relatedly, if I add a add a cheap GT710 graphics card to get 4k output to the i7-3770k cpu what will that do to the overall power consumption of the system?
12 Answers
Anandtech has a good overview about the idle power consumptions of some models. Sadly they did not test i3 versions and only a few i5:
Other good sources, as they tested multiple models, are notebookcheck.net and nucblog.net, but you need to search for the reviews individually:
- 6.1W NUC10i7FNH (anandtech measured a lower value)
- 8.4W NUC10i7FNH (anandtech measured a much lower value!)
- 15.7W NUC10i5FNK (wow, really high?!)
- 8.0W NUC10i5FNK (a little bit lower, but still high for a newer gen)
- 8.0W NUC10i3FNK (wow, really bad for an i3)
- 3.1W NUC8i7BEH
- 8.5W NUC8i7BEH (Houston, we have a problem ^^)
- 4.3W NUC8i3BEH
- 5.5W NUC8i3BEH
- 5.6W NUC8i5BEH
- 5.1W NUC8i5BEH
- 7.0W NUC7i3BNH
- 8.7W NUC6i5SYH
- 9.0W NUC5i3RYK
- 6.4W NUC5i3RXK
Conclusion: A newer NUC isn't automatically more efficient and some test results are really different.
… lists the currently available Intel NUCs, but although the CPU TDP is listed, the power consumption of the kit with drive is not shown. Here's a rundown on 7th and 8th Gen i5 NUCs:
The NUC8i5BEH and NUC8i5BEK have a CPU TDP of 28W.
The NUC8i5INH, NUC7i5DNK, NUC7i5BNK, and NUC7i7BNH have a CPU TDP of 15W.
A NUC7i5DNK w/ 32 GB RAM and an NVMe M.2 was put on a recording wattmeter and peaked at 40W during a post-install burn in test today.
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