Any worthwhile competitor for PC Engines APU platform for a low power home PC server?

[virtuality]

http://www.pcengines.ch/apu.htm

Power: About 6 to 12W of 12V DC power depending on CPU load.

By worthwhile competitor, I mean either:

• Cheaper
• More power efficient
• Faster without eating more power

 

[Cerb]

Low power home PC server that performs what role(s)?

 

[Ken g6]

It looks like you might be looking for:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_single-board_computers

 

[virtuality]

It looks like you might be looking for:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_single-board_computers

Okay. Important clarification: I ask for a PC. A PC, as in i386/amd64, not ARM, so most of your links will not cut it. But if you have at least one, please share!

Low power home PC server that performs what role(s)?

Hobby server with unrestricted options to start with. Let's not narrow down the possibilities before we find any machine fitting my criteria.

 

[Ken g6]

OK, sort the second table on the Wikipedia page by Architecture. These "PC"s appear at the bottom of the list:

MinnowBoard
Intel Galileo Gen 2
Supermicro E100-8Q
Intel NUC Board DE3815TYBE
Foxconn AT-5570
Gizmo Board
PC Engines APU.1C
PC Engines APU.1D4 <-- Hey, look, there's your board!
VIA EPIA P910

So, now you can look up the rest of their characteristics (except price) in the other tables.

You might also be interested in the Intel Compute Stick and/or other competitors using the Atom Z3735F.

 

[virtuality]

OK, sort the second table on the Wikipedia page by Architecture. These "PC"s appear at the bottom of the list:

MinnowBoard
Intel Galileo Gen 2
Supermicro E100-8Q
Intel NUC Board DE3815TYBE
Foxconn AT-5570
Gizmo Board
PC Engines APU.1C
PC Engines APU.1D4 <-- Hey, look, there's your board!
VIA EPIA P910

So, now you can look up the rest of their characteristics (except price) in the other tables.

You might also be interested in the Intel Compute Stick and/or other competitors using the Atom Z3735F.

Excellent!

To further clarify, out of my 3 requirements (price, energy consumption, performance) let's skip price. The question now is, any of these machines, or, in fact, any coming soon machines (as I can wait a little with this purchase), are better in energy consumption or performance? Additional info is, that no video out is required, as it is already disabled on "my" board to save on energy.

Thanks

 

[Cerb]

Hobby server with unrestricted options to start with. Let's not narrow down the possibilities before we find any machine fitting my criteria.

Does video support work into that criteria, multiple SATAs, etc.? They are not typical hobby server gear, but professional embedded appliance gear, usually with pretty narrow foci, due to limited performance, storage, and general IO. Standard peripherals are usually a normal requirement, at a minimum.

 

[Cerb]

To further clarify, out of my 3 requirements (price, energy consumption, performance) let's skip price. The question now is, any of these machines, or, in fact, any coming soon machines (as I can wait a little with this purchase), are better in energy consumption or performance?

The NUC is probably the fastest, but none are particularly speedy.

 

[Ken g6]

Intel's Compute Sticks are going to get better.

 

[virtuality]

Does video support work into that criteria, multiple SATAs, etc.?

Nope.

They are not typical hobby server gear, but professional embedded appliance gear, usually with pretty narrow foci, due to limited performance, storage, and general IO.

Which ones do you mean by they? I also haven't heard of the word foci (which is also not recognized by Google spell checker).

Standard peripherals are usually a normal requirement, at a minimum.

Sorry, I also lost the line here.

I'm not a native speaker.

Bottom line, I still haven't found any much better than PC Engines APU. New version coming in October.

 

[Cerb]

Which ones do you mean by they? I also haven't heard of the word foci (which is also not recognized by Google spell checker).

Google comes up with the definition (focus) when I try to search for it.

Sorry, I also lost the line here.

The PC Engines boards don't have lots of SATAs, or USBs, no normal-size PCIe, etc.. So, if something isn't working right, it's not as easy as hooking it up to a regular monitor and keyboard; yet, it also doesn't have remote management.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

That CPU is barely fast enough to boot. It's pretty clearly designed to be installed as an embedded system, router, or something. It's also only available from the manufacturer in quantities of >500. There's probably all sorts of hurdles to using it as a general purpose box.

If I already had one, I might try messing with it, but if I didn't, I'd probably start with a Raspberry Pi, or install custom firmware on my router. Depending on what I wanted to do.

I'm not sure why you say you NEED x86, either. Raspberry Pi's are quite capable home servers. But if you really do NEED x86, and a $120 board is affordable for you, and you want a general purpose home server, and you want power efficiency, get a NUC-like clone with a J1900 (quad core Atom) CPU in it.

 

[Cerb]

That CPU is barely fast enough to boot. It's pretty clearly designed to be installed as an embedded system, router, or something.

Specifically Netgate's, for PfSense. Though, you could load some Linux distros on it to make it other things, like a phone server or something.