Question Which Haswell CPU to upgrade with (worried about power draw differences, at idle)

[elsmandino]

Hi there.

I have a G1850 at the moment and need something a bit more powerful.

When looking at all the available upgrade options (for LGA1150), is there any difference between them when it comes to just idle power?

The reason I ask is that my desktop is used for very little, most of the time, and I do not want a CPU that is using lots of electricy when doing nothing.

My research suggests that the Haswell CPUs all use about the same level of power draw - is that true?

 

[burninatortech4]

Power Improvements - The Haswell Review: Intel Core i7-4770K & i5-4670K Tested (anandtech.com)

4670K and 4770K idle around ~32 to 34 watts (total system power). You could try to find an i5-4590T (35W) TDP and see if the idle is a little lower. It don't expect it to make a huge difference.

 

[OlyAR15]

If you are not using the computer for stretches of time, why not just turn it off? Or at least put it to sleep? Would be much better than wasting electricity idling for no reason.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Undervolting i7-4770K by Firnen | Game-Debate blog May-31-2015

Hardware blog by Firnen called: Undervolting i7-4770K

www.game-debate.com

If you can undervolt it, it might lower the idle power draw. But I've no first hand experience with undervolting.

 

[maddogmcgee]

Have you used an appliance calculator to work out how much power you would actually use and how much it would cost in a year? I assume very little. The speed which your monitor turns off at is probably going to make a bigger difference than the CPU choice.