Most power efficient PC design (w/ light gaming)

[Blue_Max]

Without going into much detail I'm considering a few builds that will require getting the most performance with the least use of electricity.

I'll need to consider monitors as well, of course, but CPU & video are going to be paramount. We may be looking at mobile technology more than desktop, but all options will be considered.

This would be easy were it not for the requirement of some light-moderate gaming. Smooth-as-butter Minecraft is the minimum aim.

I have some basic ideas, like Intel's Iris Pro graphics and AMD's lower-wattage APU's like the 7600 in 45W mode... but your thoughts are definitely welcomed here! (Speculation on new technology right around the corner welcome too! This project is in no huge rush... 3-6 months.)

Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[Lorthreth]

AMD R-series?

They have 4-8 CUs and TDP of 12-35W. That 7600 has 6 CUs.
It's just crazy expensive... the eval carrier board is 500+€, the APU module+heatsink is unknown, maybe another 500€. But it could go down to 12W which is low.
Maybe in that 3-6 months, a non-development version could be out.

 

[Ken g6]

I wonder about the Xeon E3 1235L v5. 25W TDP, 4 Skylake cores at 2-3GHz, and "Intel® HD Graphics P530".

They don't seem to be available anywhere yet. Neither do Minecraft tests on Intel HD Graphics 530 or P530, except for demos of old, buggy drivers. So I'm not sure if it's a good option or not.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I wonder about the Xeon E3 1235L v5. 25W TDP, 4 Skylake cores at 2-3GHz, and "Intel® HD Graphics P530".

They don't seem to be available anywhere yet. Neither do Minecraft tests on Intel HD Graphics 530 or P530, except for demos of old, buggy drivers. So I'm not sure if it's a good option or not.

Is a GTX 750Ti really so power hungry that it's out of the question? They idle pretty close to zero when not in use, but would way outperform most any iGPU I can think of.

One of those plus that 25w Xeon would be a pretty darn sweet rig, honestly.

 

[zir_blazer]

Undervolting is your friend, you just need to figure out how to do it and get rock solid profiles that gives you the performance you consider acceptable at the lowest possible Voltage. Check this Thread.
For parts, you can't beat Intel Skylake on performance-per-watt, nor GeForces 9xx as GPUs.

 

[vailr]

Intel's i7-6700T is a desktop Skylake processor that uses only 35 Watts.
http://ark.intel.com/products/88200/Intel-Core-i7-6700T-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz
A Google search only found a few available, and at inflated prices:
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-CM8066201920202-CORE-I7-6700T-3-6GHZ/dp/B0161UZWO6

Note: may require a bios update in order to properly function on Skylake motherboards.

 

[pete6032]

Why do they need to be low power? In many cases the additional price margin you pay on low power parts basically costs more than buying a non-low-power equivalent with a higher electricity cost.

If we had a better tdp requirement per PC we could make better suggestions.

 

[Blue_Max]

The idea is low-wattage for a place run on solar + batt array, or similar low-power situation.

I'll need to check the wattage of displays as well as the PC itself.

...but a little gaming still goes a long way to enjoy some downtime.

 

[myocardia]

For being run from solar power and batteries, stay as far as you can away from desktop parts. Advise them to buy laptops with at least quad-core i5s, and a GTX 960m. Then power it from one of these, not from an AC outlet: http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Cha...81&sr=8-4&keywords=car+DC+laptop+power+supply Staying 100% DC is by far the best way to use any and all solar power.

 

[Lorthreth]

Staying 100% DC is very simple with something like a picoPSU.

Or some embedded solutions can take straight 12V banana jacks as long as it's within certain ±%.

 

[vailr]

Intel has released 4 new Skylake NUC's:
http://hexus.net/tech/news/systems/88130-intel-nuc-range-updated-quartet-skylake-machines/

 

[Blue_Max]

Sweet info from all three of you there! Those new NUCs are tempting... the Intel HD Iris Graphics 540 on them is almost as fast as the AMD 7600 APU but only 15 Watts. Not bad at all!

The GTX 950M is about 50 watts, the GTX 960M about 60. Huge performance increase of course, but possibly too high of battery consumption.

Of course, something new may be available by the time I'm ready to start the project... that NUC is sure looking like the prime contender for now!

Now to start concentrating on low-power LCD monitors!

Any other nasty surprises to watch for though? Like surprisingly hungry mice/keyboards? I know some lappy hard drives suck twice the juice of others so you have to watch for those.

Cheers!

 

[JeffMD]

Try using a laptop with a ultra low voltage processor and a gtx mobile between 960 and 940.

 

[sm625]

GTX 750 is a fine option. If it is too much power then force throttle it.

 

[myocardia]

Staying 100% DC is very simple with something like a picoPSU.

Good point. When I said to stay as far away as possible from desktop parts, I was thinking of gaming parts. For instance, the gaming system in my sig would come very close to maxing out the largest pico psu (assuming their biggest is still 150-160 watt), and that would be after I had removed the GPU and all the drives except the boot SSD.

Or some embedded solutions can take straight 12V banana jacks as long as it's within certain ±%.

Not only that, but any system that comes with a wall wart, whether a laptop or a desktop, is as easy to modify to use DC as buying the adapter I linked in my last post, and buying a $5 female 'lighter socket' terminal. I know this for sure, because I have two here at my house, both running from four Trojan T-105 batteries, that are charged from solar. I use an original MSI Wind (the one with the Atom N270 single-core), with no hard drives, and no optical drives, running from a 32GB compact flash card, which is my MagicJack 'server', plus the Asus EEE Box that has a Celeron J1900, that I use as my playback-only HTPC. Yes, they would both be able to run for close to a week, with only two T-105s, but I have four because the system is also my backup 'generator', in case of power loss.

If planning on gaming, I would definitely look into the NUCs, if not wanting to use laptop(s). Like my two nettops, they are actually nothing more than laptops, without the built-in screen and battery. For something like LoL, a Skylake i3 or i5 NUC with a 256MB SSD would be awesome, and would use very little power.

 

[cbn]

I would look into the Cedar City compute stick as one of your options:

(Hopefully it is affordable enough)

 

[Blue_Max]

There's no way a stick will have the graphics power to do anything but stream from a full desktop elsewhere, am I right?

Assume there is little to no internet and CPU+GPU must be local.

For clarity, how about we raise the bar from Minecraft to Starcraft2 or Fallout 3 era games. I've played those with the A10-7850k APU... passably...

 

[melloyellow]

My dell s2340m monitor has a 12V 3.33A supply so the actual power usage must be something less than 40watts. No idea how that compares with other monitors..

 

[ElFenix]

solar power and maybe some batteries? would a new macbook work? typical load is 20 watts, typical idle under 6 watts. i doubt you'll be able to get anything better building a system. no idea what sort of power your solar system can typically output. is this a fixed installation (i.e. a house) or a backpacker situation?

 

[cbn]

There's no way a stick will have the graphics power to do anything but stream from a full desktop elsewhere, am I right?

Assume there is little to no internet and CPU+GPU must be local.

For clarity, how about we raise the bar from Minecraft to Starcraft2 or Fallout 3 era games. I've played those with the A10-7850k APU... passably...

Its a Core M though and I did watch You videos out it playing Minecraft.

Fallout New Vegas (sequel to Fallout 3) on Core M here--> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB-iOdRWnmo

Star Craft 2 on Core M here ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLC3sQ7Szdo

With that mentioned, I do not know what version of Core M Cedar City will come with. The processors in the videos are Core M5s.

 

[Blue_Max]

Its a Core M though and I did watch You videos out it playing Minecraft.

Fallout New Vegas (sequel to Fallout 3) on Core M here--> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB-iOdRWnmo

Star Craft 2 on Core M here ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLC3sQ7Szdo

With that mentioned, I do not know what version of Core M Cedar City will come with. The processors in the videos are Core M5s.

Intel HD 5300 graphics on a stick?? Wow! Boy did I misjudge... yes, that certainly becomes a viable option! I'll check more. Thanks for the info! :thumbsup:

 

[Blue_Max]

solar power and maybe some batteries? would a new macbook work? typical load is 20 watts, typical idle under 6 watts. i doubt you'll be able to get anything better building a system. no idea what sort of power your solar system can typically output. is this a fixed installation (i.e. a house) or a backpacker situation?

Anything from the laptop world is certainly a good option. This will be for a relatively-fixed location with some mobility required, so a laptop is pretty much ideal. Having that built-in battery is a nice touch as well.

Secondary to that, a fixed location with larger screen is also a "nice to have" goal for the sheer pleasure factor.

I'll certainly also consider the option that if 40W gets a GOOD gaming experience vs 15W of "barely playable", then we can certainly consider a two-prong approach of using the 40W gamer sometimes, 5-20W machines for the majority.

Of course, the whole thing is moot if desktop displays suck up all the electrical savings. I really need to consider that, which is why efficient laptops might be best most of the time, but a 27-38" monitor or TV that's still power efficient would be nice for media-watching.

Is there a website/forum dedicated to this kind of stuff?

 

[Yuriman]

Intel HD 5300 graphics on a stick?? Wow! Boy did I misjudge... yes, that certainly becomes a viable option! I'll check more. Thanks for the info! :thumbsup:

I'm shocked by how well they perform, too.