Most power efficient processor i9 vs i7 for desktop Dell.

[IGBT]

Dell XPS Desktop is available with a number of options among them processors. Wondering what the most power efficient choice may be i9 vs i7. Any thoughts on this??

 

[lakedude]

I'll take a go at it.

The AMD chips built on the latest 5nm process are going to sip less power.

If you plan on sticking with Intel make sure you are getting one of the latest generations (or a big discount). Plenty of older chips are still out there being sold "new".

Counterintuitively last time I checked Intel's efficiency cores were actually less efficient than the P-cores so an i3 with no E-cores might be the most efficient.

Fiddling around in BIOs with clock speeds or power limits could help efficiency a lot in which case you might avoid Dell and get a MB that allows under-clocking (the Dell might but they are not generally known for having the most flexible BIOSes).