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Energy Usage Research on Mini PCs, SFF, ITX, and Micro Computers
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Information
Although there are many articles and published papers on energy consumption related to computer equipment and electronic devices, it’s almost impossible to find detailed or exact energy usage profiles based on environment, type of use and specifications. Here, you will find both: actual measurements (not averages or estimates) and also the specifications of the devices, which can help with comparison and identification. Please note: More devices are added monthly, so please make sure to keep tuning in.
Why these measurements are Useful and Important
For IT / Engineers – They can assist with Wattage or energy calculations for complex or basic systems, where battery backups (UPS), heat dissipation / cooling, and purchasing considerations can be made by using the observed energy profiles.
Off-The-Grid Enthusiasts – For those who love to play around with Generators, Inverters, Solar panels and batteries. Knowing the energy consumption will help you with calculations.
Homeowners – Learn and understand what your devices are doing and how it will affect your power bill. In the energy profiles for desktop computers page, you can clearly see how some devices that are off use quite a bit of energy. Also, a computer infected with a Virus will use almost 2.5 times as much energy when the CPU runs at 100%.
Environmentalists – Being conscious about how we use our devices and making small adjustments to our behaviors, such as the electronics we buy, how we use them, how we maintain them, or being aware of the different technologies that are environmentally friendly and have low energy usage, can have a great impact on the environment.
Please note: More devices are added monthly, so please make sure to keep tuning in.
Parameters
- List of Research Articles:
– Desktop Towers or CPUs (Slim, Full, Gaming, OEM, Mini PC, iMac, etc.)
– Server Computers (Dell PowerEdge, SuperMicro, Blade, etc.)
– Laptops, Netbooks, Chromebooks, Surface Pro, Macbook, etc.
– LCD and CRT monitors, TVs and other types of display
– Networking Equipment: Switches, Routers, Firewalls, Access Points, Modems, etc.
– Power Supplies: Measured by themselves
– Other: IoT, External Hard Drives, Printers, Cable Boxes, Gaming Consoles, Phones, Cellphones charging, UPS battery Backups, etc. - Power Meters Used
– P3 P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor
– PN2000 Plug-in Kilowatt Electricity Usage Monitor
– Seasonic Power Angel SSM-1508RA (No longer used)
* All of the meters above were confirmed to be within 1 W of each other - Power Meters – Other Options
– PN2500 Professional NEMA 5-15 Wi-Fi
– P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor
- Testing Procedures:
– Devices with an Operating System (Desktops, Laptops, etc) were monitored in different states as the Operating System is able to use technology such as SpeedStep and Cool’N’Quiet. These modes in particular were measured:
* Within BIOS: No power saving technology implemented – Computer was left at BIOS screen
* Within OS – Balanced, Power Saver, or Degrade (XP only): Windows is allowed to manage the processor speed as required by the OS – These are the names of power profiles as used by older and newer versions of Windows. The frequency may also be noted next to the power reading.
Note: When no power profile is specified, it is assumed Balanced or Power Saver is in use by default
* Within OS – None (XP only) or High Performance: Windows applies no power saving technology and allows CPU to run at full speed
* Stand by or Hibernate – Computer set to sleep or standby typically using S3/S4 states
* Off: The computer has been completely shut down but still plugged into the wall
* Live CD – Helps to see a comparison between Windows and Linux Live CDs power consumption
* Benchmark – Performed with applications such as Prime95, HeavyLoad or CPU Stability Test; as a stress test is performed, this raises energy consumption of the computer to maximum
– For other Devices with no Operating System with power saving technology capabilities (TVs, Modems, Routers, etc), these were allowed to run and operate normally as the power measurement was taken
Mini PCs, Small Form Factor, Micro, ITX Computers
| Model | Beelink SER8 |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS |
| Motherboard | AZW SER8 |
| Hard Drives | Crucial P3 Plus 1TB PCIe M.2 2280 SSD |
| Memory – RAM | 24 GB (2 x 12 GB) DDR5 |
| Video card | AMD Radeon 780M |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 0.46 W – Inside the Bios: 10.03 W – Windows 11: 6.53 W HeavyLoad: 84.92 W |
| Model | GMKtec NucBox G5 Mini PC |
| Processor | Intel Processor N97 |
| Motherboard | GMKtec |
| Hard Drives | UDSS UD3CS1HT301-512G |
| Memory – RAM | 12 GB DDR5 |
| Video card | Intel UHD Graphics |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 0.44 W – Inside the Bios: 11.48 W – Windows 10: 10.49 W – HBCD: 13.34 HeavyLoad: 25.01 W |
| Model | GMKtec NucBox K6 Mini PC |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS |
| Motherboard | GMKtec |
| Hard Drives | Lexar SSD NM7A1 1TB NVMe |
| Memory – RAM | 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5 |
| Video card | AMD Radeon 780M |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 1.07 W – Inside the Bios: 11.48 W – Windows 11 (3.34 GHz): 9.72 W HeavyLoad: 82.97 W |
| Model | Beelink SER Mini PC |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 5800H |
| Motherboard | AZW SER |
| Hard Drives | CT500P3PSSD8 500 GB NVMe |
| Memory – RAM | 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 |
| Video card | AMD Radeon Graphics |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 0.95 W – Inside the Bios: 25.32 W – Windows 11 (2.83 GHz): 6.44 W HeavyLoad: 51.75 W |
| Model | Bosgame P2 Mini PC EffiZen Series |
| Processor | Intel Core-i7 12700H |
| Motherboard | Bosgame DB19C (U3E1) |
| Hard Drives | HighRel 512 GB NVMe |
| Memory – RAM | 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4 |
| Video card | Intel Iris Xe Graphics |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 2.24 W – Inside the Bios: 20.77 W – Windows 11 (1.23 GHz): 11.20 W HeavyLoad: 94.78 W |
| Model | Bosgame P5 Mini PC EffiZen Series |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 6600H |
| Motherboard | Bosgame ARB51 |
| Hard Drives | HighRel 512 GB NVMe |
| Memory – RAM | 24 GB DDR4 |
| Video card | Radeon Graphics 660M |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 1.44 W – Inside the Bios: 12.64 W – Windows 11 (2.21 GHz): 6.74 W HeavyLoad: 72.31 W |
| Model | BOXX Technologies APEXX 1 1202 |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-7700K, 4.20 GHz |
| Motherboard | ASRock H270M-ITX/ac |
| Hard Drives | Samsung SSD 960 PRO 512GB |
| Memory – RAM | 16 GB PC4-19200 DDR4 |
| Video card | AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 Polaris 11/Baffin GL XT |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 2.71 W – Inside the Bios: 58.32 W – Windows 11: 28.81 W – HBCD: 34.48 HeavyLoad: 138.13 W |
| Model | Intel Client Systems NUC10i5FNH |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-10210U, 2.1 GHz |
| Motherboard | Intel NUC10i5FNB |
| Hard Drives | Intel SSDPEKNW512G8 |
| Memory – RAM | 16 GB PC4-25600 DDR4 |
| Video card | Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake-U GT2 |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 0.45 W – Inside the Bios: 13.30 W – Windows 10: 10.93 W HeavyLoad: 56.28 W |
| Model | ThinkCentre M700 (10HYS0NF00) |
| Processor | Intel Core i3-6100T, 3.20 GHz |
| Motherboard | LENOVO 30D2 |
| Hard Drives | ADATA SU800 256GB SSD |
| Memory – RAM | 8 GB (2 x 4 GB PC4-19200 DDR4) |
| Video card | Intel HD Graphics 530 |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 1.75 W – Inside the Bios: 17.44 W – Windows 11: 6.81 W HeavyLoad: 35.60 W |
| Model | HP EliteDesk 705 G1 DM |
| Processor | AMD A8 PRO-7600B R7, 3.1 GHz |
| Motherboard | Hewlett-Packard 225E |
| Hard Drives | ADATA SU800 256GB SSD |
| Memory – RAM | 8 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 |
| Video card | AMD Radeon R7 Series |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 1.37 W – Inside the Bios: 42.88 W – Windows 11: 22.98 W HeavyLoad: 70.95 W |
| Model | Dell OptiPlex 3050 |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-7500T, 2.70 GHz |
| Motherboard | Dell 0JP3NX |
| Hard Drives | WD Blue SN5000 4TB |
| Memory – RAM | 8 GB DDR4 SDRAM |
| Video card | Intel HD Graphics 630 |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Off: 0.23 W – Inside the Bios: 11.38 W – Windows 11 (0.97 GHz): 5.12 W HeavyLoad: 26.82 W |
| Model | Alfawise Z83 Mini PC |
| Processor | Intel Atom x5-Z8350, 1.44 GHZ |
| Motherboard | Cherry Trail CR |
| Hard Drives | SanDisk DF4032 |
| Memory – RAM | 2 GB |
| Video card | Intel HD Graphics |
| Power reading (Watts) | Idle: – Inside the Bios: 4.95 W – Balanced Windows XP (0.78 GHz): 3.84 W Prime 95 (1.67 GHz): 7.62 W |
| Model | Hp ProDesk 600 G1 |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4570 @ 3.2 Ghz |
| Memory – RAM | 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) |
| Other | FTM24N325H Super Talent SSD |
| Power reading (Watts) | Off: 1 W Idle: – Inside the Bios: 46 W – Windows 10 : 23 W (HeavyLoad) CPU Only: 76 W (HeavyLoad) Entire System: 82 W |
| Model | Hp EliteDesk 800 G1 SFF |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4590, 3.3 GHz |
| Memory – RAM | 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) |
| Other | Kingston SUV400S37240G SSD Drive |
| Power reading (Watts) | Off: 1 W Idle: – Inside the Bios: 38 W – Windows 10 : 16 W |
| Model | Compaq CQ2009F, FQ652AA |
| Processor | Intel Atom 230, 1.6GHz |
| Motherboard | – |
| Hard Drives | 1 – SATA |
| Optical Drives (CD/DVD) | DVD-RW |
| Memory – RAM | 1 x 1 GB DDR2 533 |
| Video card | Intel GMA 950 |
| Fans | 0 |
| Other | Modem, 6-1 Flash Card Reader |
| Power reading (Watts) | Off: 1 W Idle: – Inside the BIOS: 28 W – powercfg none: 28 W |
| Model | MSI Wind PC |
| Processor | Intel Atom 1.6GHz |
| Motherboard | Intel 945GC, ICH7 |
| Hard Drives | 1 (SATA) |
| Optical Drives (CD/DVD) | 1 (DVD-RW, SATA) |
| Memory – RAM | 2 GB (1 x 2 GB) |
| Video card | Integrated Intel GMA 950 |
| Fans | 1 (60 MM) |
| Other | Flash Card Reader |
| Power reading (Watts) | – Inside the BIOS: 33 W – powercfg none (1.6 GHz): 30 W |
| Model | Compaq EVO D51S |
| Processor | Intel Pentium 4, 2.4 GHz |
| Motherboard | D510 SFF |
| Hard Drives | 1 (IDE) |
| Optical Drives (CD/DVD) | 1 (DVD ROM, IDE) |
| Memory – RAM | 512 MB (2 x 256 MB) |
| Video card | Integrated, Intel 82845G |
| Fans | 0 |
| Other | PCI FireWire card |
| Power reading (Watts) | Off: 1 W Idle: – Inside the BIOS: 58 W – powercfg none: 60 W |
| Model | HP d530 SFF (DC578AV) |
| Processor | Intel Pentium 4A, 2.6 GHz |
| Motherboard | Hewlett Packard 085Ch |
| Hard Drives | ST340014A |
| Optical Drives (CD/DVD) | HL-DT-ST CD-ROM GCR-8482B |
| Memory – RAM | 512 MB (2 x 256 MB) |
| Video card | Intel 82865G Graphics Controller |
| Fans | – |
| Other | – |
| Power reading (Watts) | Off: 3 W Idle: – Inside the BIOS: 52 W – powercfg none: 55 W |
