Ci320 N2930 looking for upgrade LOW POWER

[cavernoso]

I am using a Zotac CI320 currently as my always on server at home. I like it but its actually quite slow and if i peg the cpu to 100 for more than say 30 seconds, it reboots.
https://www.zotac.com/us/product/mini_pcs/ci320-nano


I have been eyeballing the kaby lake Y processors and at 4.5w think they would be amazing for my server. Unfortunately i see none available as a nuc / zotac / gigabyte brix form factor.

What are my options? Do i just sit tight or what?

I need < 8watts with much more performance than the Celeron N2930 i have.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Depends what you mean by "much more performance." You could certainly/easily get a CPU 10x as powerful, but it would eat a lot more than 8w.

Assuming you really want to keep below that 8w threshold:

The N2930 is 2015's "small core" (Atom-derived) CPU. Newer ones are just hitting the market, like, right now.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10635/intel-quietly-launches-apollo-lake-soc
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10901...s-gets-closer-as-intel-lists-them-on-web-site

They actually improve single-threaded performance a fair amount (30-50% depending on whose benchmarks I read, and coming within spitting distance of the old Core 2s) over the previous generations, so if you're hitting CPU performance limits, finding one of the latest models is probably a good idea. But it's still only a marginal CPU speed increase, which is the price of staying inside your power envelope.

If you're willing to go higher than 8w, the typical solution is a small system using desktop components (either an i3 NUC or a system built with carefully selected desktop components intended to minimize idle power use.) The big-core CPUs are, still, mind-bogglingly faster than the Atoms.

FWIW, a Pentium G4400 with an SSD, low-voltage RAM, and a very efficient PicoPSU will probably idle at 20w or less, and run happily off of a 75w wall-wart style PSU even at full CPU load.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If the form-factor fits your needs, I suggest an ASRock DeskMini, with a Kaby Lake Pentium (with HT). That's what I'm running right now, and it's pretty speedy. I haven't put the power meter on it yet, but I really doubt it draws over 30W. Probably closer to 15-20W on idle.

 

[coffeemonster]

there's this:
http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/fitlet/fitlet-h-the-hardened-version-of-fitlet/
http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/08/14/fitlet-h-mini-pc-is-powered-by-amd-a10-micro-6700t-soc/
the CPU, A10 Micro 6700T(4 Puma+ cores) is 5w TDP and has higher single thread performance than the N2930