Question Fastest low TDP CPUs?

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paperfist

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2000
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I’m looking to upgrade my ’server’ which basically runs Quickbooks and is setup for my bookkeeper and I to log into. It usually runs Win10 and a desktop CPU.

Might seem silly, but I want to take advantage of a spare Samsung Evo m.2 drive I have and the current MB doesn’t support it.

It doesn’t look like there’s any ’modern’ 35 watt CPU with anything more then dual core. Is that correct or am I looking in the wrong places?
 

paperfist

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2000
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Can you not use an M.2 to PCIE adapter with your current system?

Here's some random one I just found on newegg with a search:

I can yes, but I didn't really want to mess around with additional cards. Plus with the case it's in doesn't actually have a cut out for cards.

I take it the Ryzen 5 2400ge is not a consumer/end user part?
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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I can yes, but I didn't really want to mess around with additional cards. Plus with the case it's in doesn't actually have a cut out for cards.

I take it the Ryzen 5 2400ge is not a consumer/end user part?

Eh? Never heard of a case without cutout, maybe you just need to punch it out. It's pre cut, just not removed.

Adding a card is a hell lot easier than building a computer.

GEs are OEM parts.
 
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eek2121

Platinum Member
Aug 2, 2005
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You could just swap out the spinner for a sata ssd

If it were me, I would build a new system and keep that one as a backup. Ryzen 3600, an inexpensive GPU, 500+ gb m.2 drive (2 of them in RAID 1), etc. His current system suffers from numerous issues including hardware security vulnerabilities. I have not soon clear documentation on whether Windows loads updated microcode or not. If not, he definitely needs to upgrade. I would ditch the case as well. I think that is kind of a neat case, however, it is likely thermally limited. Going with a normal case and PSU means he doesn’t need to worry about special CPUs or locking TDPs. Even though the machine is lightly utilized, there is still some benefit. The added bonus is that the machine can be used for other things as well. The old machine can be kept as a backup.
 

paperfist

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If it were me, I would build a new system and keep that one as a backup. Ryzen 3600, an inexpensive GPU, 500+ gb m.2 drive (2 of them in RAID 1), etc. His current system suffers from numerous issues including hardware security vulnerabilities. I have not soon clear documentation on whether Windows loads updated microcode or not. If not, he definitely needs to upgrade. I would ditch the case as well. I think that is kind of a neat case, however, it is likely thermally limited. Going with a normal case and PSU means he doesn’t need to worry about special CPUs or locking TDPs. Even though the machine is lightly utilized, there is still some benefit. The added bonus is that the machine can be used for other things as well. The old machine can be kept as a backup.

I'm thinking of the Ryzen 5 3400G. I don't need or want to mess with a GPU. I'd rather spend a little more for newer tech, but the 7's don't have low wattage/onboard graphics that I see. My other choice would be the Core i5-9400F

I'd still going to stuff it into a small case as thermals have never been a problem and should be even less so with a m.2 drive (I have a spare Samsung 950 Pro 512GB) and nothing else other than the CPU to cool.

I'm thinking of this MB: ASRock Fatal1ty B450M and I know it's overkill, but for $130 I can pair it with 32GB RAM. I'm just not sure on what I'll need for wattage on a PSU. If I go Intel then ASRock B356M-ITX
 

daveybrat

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jan 31, 2000
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I'm thinking of the Ryzen 5 3400G. I don't need or want to mess with a GPU. I'd rather spend a little more for newer tech, but the 7's don't have low wattage/onboard graphics that I see. My other choice would be the Core i5-9400F

I'd still going to stuff it into a small case as thermals have never been a problem and should be even less so with a m.2 drive (I have a spare Samsung 950 Pro 512GB) and nothing else other than the CPU to cool.

I'm thinking of this MB: ASRock Fatal1ty B450M and I know it's overkill, but for $130 I can pair it with 32GB RAM. I'm just not sure on what I'll need for wattage on a PSU. If I go Intel then ASRock B356M-ITX

The i5-9400F does not have integrated graphics. I'd just stick with the 3400G. It comes with an excellent cooler as a bonus.
 
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moinmoin

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Jun 1, 2017
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I'm thinking of the Ryzen 5 3400G. I don't need or want to mess with a GPU. I'd rather spend a little more for newer tech, but the 7's don't have low wattage/onboard graphics that I see.
Indeed. If you can wait for half a year, Zen 2 based APUs (i.e. CPUs with onboard graphics) for desktop with possibly up to 8 cores should launch around then. Otherwise 3400G is the best you can currently get from AMD.
 

paperfist

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The i5-9400F does not have integrated graphics. I'd just stick with the 3400G. It comes with an excellent cooler as a bonus.

hmm that's weird, I was reading some comparisons on toms that stated it did have IG, also newegg listed it as such.

Indeed. If you can wait for half a year, Zen 2 based APUs (i.e. CPUs with onboard graphics) for desktop with possibly up to 8 cores should launch around then. Otherwise 3400G is the best you can currently get from AMD.

Thanks. I can't wait that long. I'm probably going with the 3400G. I'm not running a simulator on it anyway :)
 

EliteRetard

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Mar 6, 2006
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At the time I didn't need any add-on cards and they didn't have any of this wiz bang m.2 drive witchcraft :D

In looking up that case I built that system in 2013 so it looks like I got my monies worth. Time to build new!

I know you may decide against it, but I wanted to point out that you likely don't need a cutout for that adapter.
It's a half height card and comes with both a full and half height back plate. IE it's removable and not necessary.
 
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Insert_Nickname

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EliteRetard

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Just for the record, very low-profile PCIe-M.2 adaptors do exist. F.x.

https://www.raidsonic.de/products/accessories/ac_controller/index_en.php?we_objectID=5595

Such should fit pretty much anywhere there is an available PCIe x16 slot.

Boot support is another matter of course.

Interesting...made me wonder if there was something even more "flexible".
Went and looked for a PCIE cable to M.2 adapter.

Couldn't find exactly that in a 30 second search, but something similar:

So maybe the product exists, if anybody is interested in looking harder.
 

paperfist

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I know you may decide against it, but I wanted to point out that you likely don't need a cutout for that adapter.
It's a half height card and comes with both a full and half height back plate. IE it's removable and not necessary.

Just for the record, very low-profile PCIe-M.2 adaptors do exist. F.x.

https://www.raidsonic.de/products/accessories/ac_controller/index_en.php?we_objectID=5595

Such should fit pretty much anywhere there is an available PCIe x16 slot.

Boot support is another matter of course.

I didn't think about not needing the bracket. Those solutions are pretty cool too. While this isn't a true server build I want to have as few variables as possible to keep troubleshooting and down time to a minimum. Also, the possibility of having boot issues is something I was thinking about with an expansion card.


That's a really hot solution! You've derailed my purchase a bit :D

Though in the future I thought about adding a 2.5" HDD for backups and possibly a blu-ray burner to make backups stored off site which would fit in a ITX case.
 

sdifox

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I didn't think about not needing the bracket. Those solutions are pretty cool too. While this isn't a true server build I want to have as few variables as possible to keep troubleshooting and down time to a minimum. Also, the possibility of having boot issues is something I was thinking about with an expansion card.


Your current box doesn't even have a pcie slot so the best you can do is a sata ssd


Maybe someone will build a ssf with Ryzen 4000
 
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Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
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Booting from nVME requires both UEFI as well as a friendly bios overall. Some of the earlier boards were just tough or outright impossible to get to boot from it. Moving the datastore to a secondary partition hosted on the nVME will definitely work, but be a lot less effective overall, because the OS itself and the dependencies running on the much slower HDD.

Acronising over to a SATA SSD would be by far the simplest and most economically effective solution to give a comprehensive performance boost. And at that point, really seeing much further improvement over a Haswell i5 + SSD rig would be spiraling costs and diminishing returns, dollar per dollar. At least for this kind of work duty.
 
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sdifox

No Lifer
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I didn't think about not needing the bracket. Those solutions are pretty cool too. While this isn't a true server build I want to have as few variables as possible to keep troubleshooting and down time to a minimum. Also, the possibility of having boot issues is something I was thinking about with an expansion card.



That's a really hot solution! You've derailed my purchase a bit :D

Though in the future I thought about adding a 2.5" HDD for backups and possibly a blu-ray burner to make backups stored off site which would fit in a ITX case.


Usb 3.0 burner is a thing. You can even use an internal drive in an external enclosure.

Or just backup from your desktop.
 
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Cogman

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Sep 19, 2000
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Can't believe nobody has mentioned it, but if you are looking for ultra low power, then you can't do much better than Intel's NUCs.

Take this one as an example

The i7-10710U has a 15W TDP and 6 cores. Should be plenty to run Quickbooks.
 
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paperfist

Diamond Member
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Can't believe nobody has mentioned it, but if you are looking for ultra low power, then you can't do much better than Intel's NUCs.

Take this one as an example

The i7-10710U has a 15W TDP and 6 cores. Should be plenty to run Quickbooks.

Actually @sdifox did, but yeah that's a pretty heavy artillery solution :)

I dunno if it's the Coronavirus or what but the Ryzen CPUs I was looking at are either out of stock in a lot of places or $50 more than they should be. Almost the same is true for the Intels or you have to buy a tray version... unless I want to try my hand at aliexpress :D