PC & SBC Power Consumption

[@JTThumpington]

I was just thinking about this and then minutes later, this video popped up in my notifications. Uncanny!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Spooky . . .

[@anno5936]

yeah, Christopher is the ultimate mind bender...

[@ralphmcmahan2139]

Turn Alexa off

[@JTThumpington]

@@ExplainingComputers Yes, the reason I was thinking about it is, I want to set up a machine with low power consumption to use for running SteamCMD under Linux for dedicated Steam game servers. Games that I regularly play with my friends, such as Left4Dead2, CS:GO, etc. I'm currently running it on Ubuntu Server 20.10 in a virtual machine using Oracle VirtualBox. Of course, this server is only operational when I have my main PC on, which I don't want to leave running 24/7. I dare say that one of the Intel based SBCs might do the trick; perhaps the Latte Panda Delta?

[@davidbayliss3789]

​@@JTThumpington I don't know about SteamCMD, but I run Open Media Vault as a host on a J5005 based Intel Nuc with 8GB Ram. (I have 8x 5TB portable USB hard drives with quite aggressive turn-off times initially programmed while using Seagate software on Windows, and a 1TB Samsung SSD inside the Nuc). On that nuc I run tons of containers, including Plex for example (which you could do on a Pi even). Idle, the OMV System Overview displays about 1%, 2% etc. I don't measure the system draw of that separately, but the hard drives even when idle/sleeping probably draw more than the Nuc I suspect. -- I do measure my total system draw for: Aforementioned J5005 with 8x 5TB drives. 4x monitors (1x 22"=>24" ish old that uses more power than I like, 1080p, 1x wide-screen I use in portrait mode - more than 1080p, taller than 24" prob., 1 decent Dell 25" and one USBC power 13" touch screen) (Connected to a NUC10i7FNH ... 6-cores, 64GB Ram, 2x 1TB SSDs including an nvme one) running Windows 10 Pro A Facebook Portal (can play plex on that too) Another NUC10i7FNH ... same spec, except Pro-SSDs, but for ESXI 7, on which I run several VMs including my main one for work - another Win10, with 32GB allocated memory for that one VM... lots of compiling etc. (coding) 1x Pi4 4GB with an USB SSD 2x Smart Switches (networking, 8-way GBit) 1x WiFi Access Point (2.4GHz and 5GHz) 1x Network Camera for CCTV streaming to cloud. (I actually bolt Nucs into stuff I then screw into the floor but obviously I take precautions with so much expensive gear!) 1x Echo Dot (2nd gen). Another Pi3 based (large) Lithium Iron Phosphate battery project I'm working on (when I get back to it) with other microprocessors and gubbins, (It will eventually be in charge of managing all the power for my systems in this room). An APC 700W UPS that all the power goes through currently for these things (but it draws power anyway), Various bits and bobs ... e.g. multiple USB power supplies (for general use). Speakers etc. Dongles ... e.g. for Zigbee and other stuff. I have all that going through a TP-Link energy monitoring plug but with the switch soldered closed (I like these plugs as easy to read the values in Python). With monitors on and VMs up etc. but fairly idle use, I'm looking at about 200W. With very long working days and if I neglect to risk putting my main Win10 Nuc to sleep because I have so much stuff open I'm scared to loose, or I'm just being lazy (tired/fatigued) then all that uses about 4kWh / day. Which is a LOT ... BUT ... less than my dehumidifier in the cellar that uses about 5kWh / day to stay below 60% relative humidity (I measure a bunch of stuff around the house). I have a separate system for pfSense in the utility cupboard downstairs ... a SuperMicro server board ... because of the built-in remote control stuff though there are now Pi solutions for KVM over IP etc.!, and another J1900 little computer that I used to use for pfSense that I now run ESXI on too though I want to increase the RAM on the SuperMicro and virtualise pfSense and turn off the J1900). By virtualising pfSense ... depending on the demands of something like this SteamCmd thingy, maybe that could also run on the same machine as the router software, saving energy there? Over time I'm trying to reduce my power use ... and heat generation, but it is complicated by loving so much tech! I'm very aware of energy and quite ashamed. Loved this video ... it was informative. Don't know if that helps. With perspective. So for me, selecting highlights from the main "computers": 12x quite powerful CPU cores, 4x less powerful but fairly efficient cores (J5005), then the Pi4 Arm Cores, and whatever's in the Facebook Portal ... over 140GB of RAM ... 200W. Including 4x monitors. 4kWh / day. If 15p / kWh then about 60p / day. Or £219/year. A lot of love for Tech. :) And a good reason to try to reduce it a bit. It amazes me how efficient things are becoming, but I also get frustrated at the lack of commercial power management solutions and especially lack of long life (e.g. 20-years+) affordable UPS's. I hate having to throw away Lead Acids all the time (they get recycled obviously). And even something as ubiquitous as NUT ... I'm finding I'm having to write my own (Windows service) (I do use Linux a lot too obviously - but both) for NUT to do the things I want. Very very frustrated I get, lol ... not being able to get the things I want. But, yeah ... very pleased with the NUCs. Very expensive ... but very capable. With VMs and containers especially, and with the wide power envelopes of the 10th Gen CPUs on the posher ones, I can run many many servers and services that idle at very low power. Great for experiments (home lab).

[@Enos666]

I genuinely want to see more of these on every review, it's about time power efficiency/consumption was brought out into the limelight.

[@peterjansen4826]

I suggest a part 2 of this video: use cross-architecture (X86 and ARM) programs for some heavy load and measure the performance/W. You could for example measure the render-time with Blender.

[@ForOdinAndAsgard]

No need because it is a bridged system. You can test both sides separately at full load and just add them up. It is not much different from a bridgeboarded Amiga in how it works (68xxx x86), it is in size and speed though and not by a little bit as an original Amiga can hold a 286 Bridgeboard and 68000 as a bare minimum and a 486 Bridgeboard and 68040 at absolute maximum for the magic to happen. In practice this means I can play Command&Conquer DOS version native on my Amiga A2000 with Windows '95 as OS while AmigaOS 3.1.4 is also running real-time at the same time. Yes the Amiga was the first real multi tasking computer and it was very good at it. It also was extremely expensive to build such a system in that time. Even today it is still expensive to run genuine Amiga hardware. Mainly because they are becoming rare and there is a huge fanbase.

[@Doobie3010]

Worth pointing out that full PCs power supply’s come with various efficiency ratings -White,Bronze,Silver,Gold,titanium,platinum.Superb video as always man.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Yes, very good point.

[@Nitrorcman189]

It's amazing how power efficient SBC's are, especially if you install an ARM version of Linux on it. If I'm at home, I always use my desktop PC but if I'm on vacation or out and about, SBC's are a great choice. Great video as always!

[@urbanimage]

Very interesting video and results. Since moving on to a narrowboat to live I've become quite an obsessive when it comes to power usage. Very tempted to get a Raspberry Pi 400 for use during these darker months when the solar struggles a bit.

[@davidmoss6271]

Great video! When I first got my Raspberrypi 3+, I measured the current drawn, and was amazed by how low it was! Nice job, well done!

[@NewAgeDIY]

Hi Chris. Great to see you on Paul’s live stream yesterday. Lots of interesting Q&A. It was a very long show but worth the wait.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@DallasMike424]

@@ExplainingComputers Paul McCartney had a live stream with Chris yesterday? Awesome!

[@sarvagnyapurohit9719]

@@DallasMike424 No not Paul McCartney 😂. It was Paul McWhorter's channel.

[@DallasMike424]

@@sarvagnyapurohit9719 Thanks! I love Paul McWhorter's poetry, especially The Hobbit.

[@NewHampshireJack]

Man, We have been watching all of you videos, especially the ones on SBCs at this time. Three projects are on the table at this time are: 1. Determining the minimum amount of computer we need in our mobile camping rig that will allow me to log into our brokerage account and access the the trade platform. We can stay out longer if we are able to make position adjustments from remote locations. My Beautiful Bride will also be better able to continue her academic writing work while underway with power efficient equipment running off the rigs house battery and solar panels. 2. Develop a great and efficient system for home backup during power outages here in the Philippines. In our province, the grid is very reliable but it does go down occasionally. and can be out for days. A typhoon this very month proves the fact! 3. We are working on a low power draw navigation display for marine application. Again, running off the house battery and trying to minimize the time we need to run the engine to charge our storage cells. Thank you Christopher for your always helpful, information packed videos. From Beautiful Bride Maria, her loving hubby Jack and our young troops on Luzon Philippines.

[@TheTechieScientist]

This is completely awesome , I am glad you still used the raspberry Pi 3B+ as almost all creators have forgotten that now , and i still have that , this is what makes you different and "cool"er than other creators , Thank you...

[@ericwood3709]

The Pi's power draw is stunningly low. I knew it would be awesome, and that's why I looked up how to turn it into a NAS (which is what brought me to this excellent channel in the first place) and replaced the 2009 Mac mini I was using for the job. At 2-4 watts, I don't feel the least bit guilty for letting that little thing run 24 x 7 x 365.

[@keithmiller9665]

Thank You, I have done some broadly similar Pi 4 / 400 v i5-4590 v i7-4790 tests myself. For something like h264 video encoding the watts versus encoding time tradeoff can be interesting to know. If you are not in a hurry then a slow but low watt encode on a Pi 4 might be cheaper than a fast encode on an i5 / i7. During the original UK lockdown I slowly re-encoded my movie collection of 200+ films using a Pi 4 and ffmpeg libx264. Slow but it meant I didn’t need to constantly monitor the encode, just kick it off and come back many hours later.

[@2namtaB]

Nice video Chris. 👍 So I guess the next progression would be to see a similar task performed on each machine. This would give us the time taken multiplied by the power use. The Ryzen might use more power but if it completes the task faster than the pi Zero then it might be more efficient to use. Maybe a future video perhaps?

[@IanTheCat]

This is a really great video when considering media options for off-the-grid applications. Came back to it 4 months later just to remember each!

[@ExplainingComputers]

You may like my first video in May 2021 -- which includes extensive tests running SBCs from batteries. :)

[@MacinMindSoftware]

Very edifying as usual. Here's some more info I found interesting: Encoding H.264 video with "Fast 1080p30" in Handbrake 2010 Mac Pro Xeon 6 core with hyper threading used for encoding, W3680 @ 3.33 GHz, 48 GB RAM 125 idle, 225 loaded, 200 fps encode speed 2020 Mac mini M1, 8 GB RAM, emulating X86 for encode: 7 watts idle, 26 watts loaded, 225 fps encode speed To be fair I subtract a bit for 4 extra HDDs in Mac Pro and make it 200 loaded. Then let's say 1 watt per fps for the Mac Pro and 0.116 watts per fps for the Mac MIni M1, making the Mac Mini M1 about 8 times better at work per watt even in emulation of X86. The Mac Mini M1 has a fan that normally blows cool air and it does not spin up or get perceivably warmer on doing this for extended periods. This is the future.

[@MacinMindSoftware]

oh, a bit misleading, the source video was 480p so it was a 480p encode actually

[@AFCAWorldBodybuildingArchive]

Finally! Power consumption is a hugely important part in choosing a computer or not. 💪

[@davocc2405]

EXCELLENT video Mr Barnatt - this is one of the least considered areas as far as I'm concerned. I frequently answer the over-asked questions about SBCs as "what would you use one of these for?" and I tell them about using something like ARIA2 for large size downloading without leaving your main rig on - they dismiss this as a non-issue and run a rig that would consume perhaps 80-150 times the power of a Pi Zero W (which would be quite adequate to the task even bringing in huge ISO files, etc.). I think there's a lot of value in pursuing the build of a multi-purpose home proxy/gateway/server build for this purpose; I see some fractured videos on this (or they cover only a few perspectives such as library serving alone) but I think there's more scope for this moving forward.

[@rexjuggler19]

Most excellent as per usual. I am always keenly interested in power consumption. I setup an Odroid HC1 after watching your review of it to setup a NextCloud server which I have now been running for a couple years. I like that a single-board computer uses about as much electricity as a night light. I also use a Pi for OpenVPN. For many applications, you might have a need of an always-on device, but do not wish to be wasteful or unnecessarily use much power. Thanks so much for putting in the time to research and measure all these devices. Very useful!

[@GordosTacoShop]

Going for my A+ partially because of you! Thanks for all the awesome content!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Best of luck with it -- this is great to hear.

[@GordosTacoShop]

@@ExplainingComputers thanks 🙂

[@johnm2012]

@Joe Monk Just don't connect to the Internet!

[@johnm2012]

@Joe Monk Take a look at www.techradar.com/uk/news/best-linux-distro-privacy-security TAILS looks like a reasonable compromise between anonymity and usability.

[@GordosTacoShop]

@Joe Monk I'd be less worried about the NSA and start worrying more about google, apple, facebook, and Amazon. Also tiktok. And twitter. And Instagram. ...and spotify. And Reddit. At least NSA isn't using your info against you on an individual level. Can't say the same for the others here.

[@BenJonesVideographer]

Only been subscribed for a week and I'm thoroughly enjoying these videos! I'm loving the looks at the single board computers. My father was one of the early adopters of the Pi way back when! Very fond memories indeed.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Great to have you aboard. You are one of the people who took the channel past 700K subs in the past few days. Thanks. :)

[@Lawiah0]

“Amazing how you can do without the essentials of life, so long as you have the little luxuries.”

[@zetaconvex1987]

"Pitch Black" quote?

[@bryanmay6405]

And then there's my gaming PC -- a Ryzen 3700x and RTX 3080, 32GB of RAM -- which at idle pulls about 150 watts, and at full load pulls between 500 and 550 watts, according to my power supply's digital readout anyway. This video really puts into perspective how much it actually takes to squeeze all the performance out of our silicon.

[@saturno_tv]

This is the video I was expecting for!. I got many servers running 24/7, so power consumption has become an issue.

[@volvo09]

Years back someone gave me their old floorstanding dell poweredge as part of a job, i was going to use it till i saw it draw like 350w just sitting there and it warmed up the spare room i put it in. Haha

[@jayrowe6473]

@@volvo09 It could double as a heater in the winter. I have a few of those.

[@marcdraco2189]

Depends on what you use as a server. I use (and don't laugh) some Pi Zeros in metal cases. They don't get particularly hot but each run several 2.5" hard drives and drive SAMBA4 quite well for me as single user. They can deliver HD video too, so all in all, not bad considering what is inside these things (512K of memory) for example.

[@reggiep75]

@@marcdraco2189 - Nah, I'd never laugh at someone with the smarts to opt to use PI Zeros or similar SBC's for servers, if that is all that is needed. If anything, you should be applauded for a smart and economic approach to smaller servers.

[@saturno_tv]

@@marcdraco2189 Well all my servers are SBCs. 2 Panda Delta, 1 Udoo x86, 1 odroid xu4 and 1 raspi 4. So, this video heals my doubts. Many services running continuously. Power consumption is indeed an issue.

[@chriscottingham2003]

As usual making my Sundays relaxing and enjoyable 👍

[@RafaCoringaProducoes]

Great video prof. Chris. I didnt watched the whole 'what is measured' part yet, but i point that monitors are one of the most consumers. Im using a raspberry 4 as main computer, and my portable monitor wasnt compatible. Now im using a 44' led tv, and needed to set the automatic sleeps to make it more energy free. Btw i like your speechs as futurist as well. Hug from Brazil!

[@Swamtrooper8]

I would be interested in something like 'operations per watt'. Would be very pleased to see this kind of operational energy efficiency in the summary of the next video of this kind. Just to get an idea of which sbc to occupy with some time consuming calculations.

[@deechvogt1589]

Chris thanks for a great power catalog video of every system you could get your hands on. Very interesting. Thanks. Stay well and cheers!

[@ma3oun]

I think this power consumption benchmark should be a standard for all your SBC tests. Great video :-) !

[@jpino528]

Very useful video. Two years ago, I did purchase a DELL server, I was so proud of it, but the power consumption was killing me: 250Watts At the end, I just replaced it with a Raspberry Pi 3B+ and it's performance basically was the same. My DELL server is collecting dust since then.

[@fdhadi]

I've been following your channel for a long long long time, keep it up, even if yt is paying less than usual keep it up we are with you.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Much appreciated!

[@ajantis.ilvastarr]

Awesome! Long time ago I mentioned you could add the power usage statistics to your sbc reviews. Very handy if someone wants to use it as a small server or anything else working 24/7. But this video is awesome as well!

[@CiberBago]

Thank you for this. Power consumption for me is very important, seeing this I can easily get a RPi Zero w and a Pi 4 running 24/7 on my house with no problems at all!

[@dougabbott8261]

I have a J5105 for my HTPC and have always wondered how much power it was drawing . I now have a pretty good idea , thank you. My gaming PC warms the room so I do not want to know how much it draws. Ignorance is bliss.

[@N0Xa880iUL]

I wish the list could just go on. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

[@klassichd10]

Thanks for your effort and making this public! That is (also) why I stopped growing my SBC flock. For my home automation system I am using a refurbished business laptop with some cosmetic drawbacks but i5-6300U 8GB, 180GB SSD. Idling around 3W to 5W (LCD display turned off) under full Win 10 Pro. Nice access via remote desktop. So I can run it 7/24 for just a few EUR more than a Raspi but having all advantages of a laptop if needed.

[@philipbrady7635]

A real eye opener ! great video, useful to now when deciding what to build for a specific task or even for those working off grid, huge improvements made over the last few years

[@Un_Pour_Tous]

I had a rpi zero w going at 9amps. Long story short it melted.

[@ExplainingComputers]

!

[@cresshead]

opps...

[@Un_Pour_Tous]

@@ExplainingComputers I had issue with usb not working so I tried and re-work it with a hot station. I let it cool down and had it on a usb charger that reads Volts and amps. The USB cable gave out before it had time to melt. The rpi0 w seems to have issue with usb going out IDK if it is because there is no protection like the 3 and 4 has.

[@marcdraco2189]

@@Un_Pour_Tous I find the Pis have a tendency to blow up even when not heavily stressed. People who know more about this stuff than I do don't speak highly of the design.

[@PatrikKron]

@@marcdraco2189 Hmm, I never heard of that problem. My 3 raspberry pies have worked flawlessly (although a few as cards have been consumed, most likely due to all the random writes). That being said it’s a way to small sample size to say anything.

[@resrussia]

Thanks for an interesting video. One of things I like about your channel is your exploration of topics which might be of interest like power consumption but that I don't have time do myself. Also, I enjoyed your interview with Paul McWhorter on his channel. As always, I am looking forward to next week's video.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks Tom

[@JendaLinda]

I'm using the heat produced by my PC to heat my room. The apartment building is thermally insulated. My PC is not very power hungry, but the heat is enough to keep the room modestly warm.

[@reggiep75]

An older PC I had put out a fair amount of heat so I used some drain-piping sections & joints and a few 80mm fans to redirect the heat. It's common sense to make good use of excess heat generated

[@Okurka.]

Not very power hungry but producing enough heat to keep a room modestly warm? That breaks the laws of thermodynamics.

[@Herby-1620]

It might be interesting to compare to "older" machines. IBM XT? etc.

[@gregholloway2656]

Great video, Chris. Had a thought on the lack of precision of the meter (I have the same one). If you switch the reading to kWh, it reads two decimal places. Now, if you were to run the RPi zero, for a week (168 hrs), you could divide the kWh reading by 168 to get a better idea of the fractions of a Watt.

[@ExplainingComputers]

A very good point. :)

[@Okurka.]

Why not use a multimeter that goes down to micro amps?

[@TopHatCentury]

Thank you, Chris! I appreciate the desktop PC that you built with the GT 1030. I was contemplating for a little while whether to buy an HDMI docking station or a GT 1030 since I thought about using a GTX 1060 instead. I am glad to see that the GT 1030 works for your needs and that it is a viable alternative for my needs as well.

[@ExplainingComputers]

I have been very pleased indeed with my (passively cooled) 2GB GT 1030 in my video editing rig. I thought it might not be powerful enough, but it allows HD and 4K editing in Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve with no issues, as least for the kind of work I do. Timeline scrubbing is very smooth. It probably helps that I have 32GB of RAM and mainly edit ProRes, but working with 4K mp4 files is OK too. I monitored performance quite a bit in the first few weeks I used it, but never maxed out the GPU or its RAM.

[@TopHatCentury]

@@ExplainingComputers It is quite amazing how the GT 1030 is able to render 4K videos with a better value per watt compared to more powerful cards from the same architecture. I honestly thought that more GPU power would be needed for rendering 4K videos to be honest. I only wonder if there will ever be an equivalent Turing or Ampere card in the works.

[@wakamohle]

Thank you for taking time to do this comparison

[@BlommaBaumbart]

The SBC mesh render in this 60s style crosshair screen from 3:50 looks pretty neat. Sort of retro futuristic.

[@simpletongeek]

Something that is used for TV production? Like Lightwave 3D?

[@cromulence]

Great content as always. I was thinking about getting a Pi Zero W to turn into an AirPrint server because I couldn't justify spending an extra £40 on the next model up which added Wi-Fi. Looks like the way to go!

[@MVVblog]

WOW I used Lightwave on Amiga so many years ago, i barely remember that. It is wonderful to see this software again.

[@armand631]

My Ryzen 7 2700X, 16GB RAM, GTX 1080Ti and 1TB SSD idles at 150W and goes up to 420W when fully loaded on CPU and GPU. I measured this using a Kasa Smart Plug and a C# program I wrote that monitors the plug power usage and writes the data to an SQL database.

[@ngr649]

Thanks for the video! Really like to see more of powerful SBCs videos in near future..

[@chriholt]

"Phew" was the same thing I was thinking towards the end! Also, "penultimate" is one of the best and least-used words in the English language :)

[@Okurka.]

Probably because that word doesn't exist.

[@RollerCoasterLineProductions]

I've always wondered about this,. you've got a video for almost everything!

[@Radagast1953]

Thank you, Chris! I've been asking for this information for several years. I live off-grid, so power consumption has become a great concern to me. You should make this a standard metric for all your system reviews. I get excited about the performance of some desktops, until I think of the power draw, then I forget about them. 😜

[@JesusSaves86AB]

Intel Atoms and other low power cpu's are in many notebooks and mini laptops

[@Radagast1953]

@@JesusSaves86AB I had an Azulle Byte Plus, which uses an Intel “Cherry Trail” Atom x5-Z8300 processor. It had four cores running at 1.44GHz, with a Burst speed up to 1.84GHz. However, it was a bit underwhelming, especially with only 4GB of RAM & only 32GB of internal storage. I did use it happily for several years as my primary computer, but I mostly just did browsing, which often crashed Chrome when I opened too many tabs. I finally had to upgrade when I could not install the Windows "required" upgrade [ca. fall, 2019) on my 32GB C: drive [which I had cleared of everything not Windows-related]. I added a 512GB external USB SSD, but it was not configurable as my C: drive. At the end of 2019, I upgraded to my current primary PC: ASUS PN50-4500U PC w/Ryzen 5 CPU. It has six cores running at 2.3GHz with Turbo Boost Upto 4GHz, and 6 threads. I installed it with 32GB of G.Skill memory and 512 GB of Patriot NVMe M.2 storage. Now this is an impressive system, especially as it only draws 1.2W in standby [sleep], and "idles" at 8-12W. I've seen "stress tests" that push it to 28W, but I never get anywhere near that. I never even hear the fan come on and it remains fairly cool to the touch. Sure, it was a bit more expensive, but still reasonable. Currently, the [now antiquated] Azulle Byte Plus is $127 on Amazon [I think it was closer to $200 back when I got it in 2016]. The ASUS PN50-4500U PC is currently $589.99 on Amazon [I got it for $471.99 from Newegg a year & a half ago]. Plus, I paid $107 for the RAM & $120 for the SSD, so the "system" was almost $700, but what a fantastic upgrade! Anyway, my point was that I appreciate power consumption figures from Chris & wish more KZbin reviewers provided them.

[@fcweng]

Great video. This is the most informative power consumption video for computer devices. We are struggling to minimize power usage on computing devices. We get around 38watt ~ 89watt on a decent desktop PC under nornal load

[@LouisHansell]

Thanks, Chris, for another informative video. They are most appreciated.

[@perrymcclusky4695]

Now I have another reason to find the Raspberry Pi Zeros oh so interesting. Thanks for another informative and enjoyable video! Looking forward to your next video.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings Perry.

[@benjamintan2733]

Interesting. Hmm... Well, we only stress the CPU but not both CPU and GPU. I think it is still a good information out there as we can see which system consume less power when idle. Nicely done, although, I would like to see a more detail one, for example: rendering the same video using KDEN Live in all system and measure the power consumption from the beginning of the test until the test completed, then obtain the duration of the time times by the maximum power they consume to get the total power they consumed while doing the same workload. This is just a thought I have in mind.

[@ninline2000]

A good point. Efficiency would be the amount of work per watt.

[@ataru4]

Yeah the respective GPU's should have been maxed at the same time, otherwise it's not max system power use. Even the low power SBC's have dedicated silicon for graphics that will use some power when used.

[@AndrewYouTube866]

Good video...straight talking and to the point as ususal....one of my go-to places for pc knowhow.

[@GertBoers]

Nice comparison, although only measuring wattage will not do... You should take into account how long a certain application takes to finish. If a board uses twice as less power under stress, but takes four times as long to finish a task, then the board with higher usage makes more sense (when idle usage is the same).

[@yxcvbnmmnbvcxy544]

Rendered the Blender BMW on my pi2 in 9 hours 3,5w*9h=31,5wh Did the same on my laptop with GPU in 4 minutes (4min/60)*70w=4.67wh

[@daliovic24]

You are such a great inspiration for content creation, how with mediocre assets you can make awesome and informative content for the world. Thank you so much sir

[@joeg3950]

Power consumption vs. Needs is quality that I use in a list of computer characteristics for purchase. I try do things on the leanest power consuming machine possible. Thank you for content!

[@Mighty_Cat_Mods]

This man is wasted on computer content. He should also be narrating nature documentaries, public information films and the Wombles.

[@AndrewAHayes]

I agree Chris is a potential National Treasure, and he already is in my world!

[@MINKIN2]

A worthy successor to Bernard for sure.

[@josyfkristopher4320]

@Graham Nichols Just a tad more excitable. At the same time, I would have loved to listen to Bob Ross doing tech videos.

[@GaryFuller]

Definitely a potential Attenborough in the making.

[@breebw]

@@GaryFuller He films ducks. So hes 1/2 way their. "Ducks. Lets go and take.... . . . . . . . ....a closer look."

[@zaynumar0]

Chris we need more content on explaining the future mate

[@ExplainingComputers]

I can only agreed. Soon I hope. I'll be posting my December 2020 update two weeks today, and my current and future production situation will become clearer!

[@azatecas]

this is why i love this channel, answering the tough questions!

[@NicoDsSBCs]

Hi Christoper. Great topic. That's why I use SBCs. My PC is up to 300W. No SBC consumes even 1/10. I did review an AMD Threadripper 3990X this week. That does do pretty well in power consumption per performance. It is mighty powerful. The ARM server with older build technology is neck to neck in performance per watt maxed out. 120W vs +400W being 4x less powerful. AMD TR overclocked uses +600W, 5x faster. In idle it does consume 100W. But who wants a Threadripper and use it in idle all the time :) Next week I get access to an Amazon AWS server. I'll have to look for better benchmark tests. These machines are way too powerful for my SBC benchmarks. They are not stressed by them :) I also got a new capture device. Way better, but I need to capture in raw with N2+. So +50MB per minute. But amazing quality. Even the N2+ can't handle live encoding of 1080p60fps. It's not a standalone recorder.. Have a nice day. Greetings.

[@DodgyBrothersEngineering]

Huge thanks for doing that, it has answered questions I don't have time or resources to check for myself.

[@gr8bkset-524]

Power consumption is often overlooked when when people purchase appliances and computers. My old Tivo Series 3 didn't have standby and consumed 40W/hr or 1kW/day . My new Tivo Premier w/ standby consumed 1/3 as much and saved me $50 in electricity each year. Switching from a 2kW/day fridge to a 600W/day fridge saved me $100/yr. Making these upgrades not only gave me better performance/features, but also paid off in 4 years.

[@mikehaldane4061]

I have have a couple of Raspberry Pi's that I have bought over the last few years and I have gained enough skills to get confidence in the use of the Terminal However over the last year or so I have been watching these vlogs and other computer vlogs and I have been getting more interested . So earlier this year I changed the OS on my 10 year old PC from Windows 10 (Originally it would have been Windows 7) to Ubuntu and updated to 20.04 when it be came available. Then during the summer I watched the Initial vlog on the Seeed Odyssey J4105 and the comment that it would run You Tube videos made me take the jump. I have bought a Odyssey J4105 120 GB Mini to be my home computer. This is going to be a trip of discovery but thanks to Explaining Computers I think I will be able to enjoy the trip - already updated the OS to Ubuntu :)

[@ExplainingComputers]

This is great to hear. Enjoy your Odyssey board and Linux adventure! :)

[@notransfat1]

A graph showing how the energy efficiency of computing power has increased over the last 50 years or so would be interesting to see. Thanks for the video!

[@miss_gray]

I had read somewhere that a Raspberry Pi used just as much power as a laptop when under full load... thanks for showing that info was wrong! It reinforces my desire to replace some systems I'm using as servers with a couple Raspberry Pi's.

[@IanHodgetts]

Absolutely fascinating! I've often thought about doing similar tests myself but just haven't "invested" in the measuring tool(s). Thank you for clarifying what I already suspected (my army of Pis are using far less than my gaming PC) ;-)

[@separatedig9567]

Congratulations to 700,000 subscribers.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks. :)

[@separatedig9567]

I'am czech.

[@separatedig9567]

Sorry for my english. :D

[@ExplainingComputers]

@@separatedig9567 No problems. :)

[@AllensTrains]

Soporific stuff! You had me yawning by the end - but I watched it all the way through and managed to stay awake! Thanks for putting together another professional show. You might make a video explaining how to make a KZbin video on the Raspberry Pi. You could do this by joining the files together instead of rendering them.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching to the end! :) I make an EC video on a Raspberry Pi -- normal editing and rendering, plus some compositing -- in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2THlZ1vlLGAnbc

[@MichelMorinMontreal]

Exhaustive analysis from the "Explaining Computers dot com" laboratories! If I hadn't already understood the energy challenge that SBCs - and more specifically the Raspberry Pi - successfully meet on a daily basis, the demonstration is now available online and relentless! Thanks a lot!

[@AndrewAHayes]

I was hoping for the Orange Pi Zero 2 review, this is such an important board!

[@ExplainingComputers]

It is on my list -- and I agree, a great board.

[@ypat90]

I will need to run on my LattePanda Alpha. The one I barely turn on because of how hot its Titan case becomes. Excellent info. Thank you very much.

[@jemenendezs]

Thank you Chris. Very interesting video. I agree with you, more people are becoming interested in power consumption of PCs and microcomputers nowadays.

[@srtcsb]

Thanks for another great video Chris.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Hi Steve.

[@etienne6641]

Such a good variety to compare. Thank you Chris. I think you must ask Santa for a Smart Power meter then you can factor in the the decimals as well 📳

[@anthonymccarthy4164]

Thank you, as things tighten up and lots of us are going to have to go bare bones, this information is extremely useful.

[@smyrnian_]

Thank you for the comparisons. The Odroid N2+ looks like the best bang per watt. I had a look at the M1 Mac Mini power usage and it stays below 10watts when maxed out, which is very impressive! Maybe you should have a look at that too in an upcoming video. It actually is a SBC too (more like a system on a chip).

[@JoseAlba87]

Thanks for another great Video. Happy Thanksgiving from States

[@ExplainingComputers]

Same to you!

[@mradar5913]

Great topic, very interesting for me as I was thinking about this for some time. Thank you

[@tinkmarshino]

Chris it is rather funny.. you bringing this up now.. I have been thinking of making my electronics room run off of a solar system. I am just in the designing stage right now but this information will come in quiet useful.. not only does it save me a little time but adds a whole extra volume of information for me to use.. thanks brother.. this has always been a great channel to watch. I know you rather like the video editing part you should make a side channel for your video editing fantasies.. I know a lot of use would watch them.. well carry on my friend.. stay safe and healthy..

[@ExplainingComputers]

Very interesting! :) I am hoping to do a solar powered Raspberry Pi video at some point. Or maybe clockwork or steam.

[@tinkmarshino]

@@ExplainingComputers WOW that would be great to see.. make it soon if you can.. thanks again Chris.. I learn so much from your video's..carry on my brother!~

[@kranibal]

Keep up the great work Christopher!

[@PS_Tube]

Great information for someone wanting to decrease their PC power drain. And to understand which machine draws more power for a beefy performance.

[@sirmeowcelot]

thanks again for another great contribution to education. professor Barnatt never disappoints.

[@DONK8008]

1:27 Some PSU's actually have software which will tell you the power the PSU is currently pulling from the wall and sending out to the PC. Higher end Corsair ones will do this via Corsair Link, just have to connect it to a USB header on the motherboard

[@ExplainingComputers]

Good point.

[@Ian_Carolan]

Great content as always Christopher, useful information and thanks for making this video.

[@JoseLopez-oz1xm]

Very cool look at the power usage. Thanks Chris. 😀

[@LarryKapp1]

I was also recently wondering about different computer power usage - I am 100% on solar power and now in the shorter days of winter it is good to know where I can save. I just plugged in my laptop to power meter and it is about 50 watts ! Maybe time to find something more efficient.

[@dreamer-1973]

If I had you as a teacher I would have been more interested in learning things at the time :D

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@bsvenss2]

Great video as always! Now I'm tempted to do a cluster with 153 Raspberry Pi Zero. 🤗

[@steveshadowphoto9346]

Another great video, thanks! I'm currently using multiple Atomic Pi SBCs to run GIMPS software but I may add a Rock Pi X since I'm sure it would draw less power than the Atomic Pi machines.

[@gordo8189]

Very interesting Chris.. I'd be interested to see a more complete table comparing not only power consumption, but real-world performance on different tasks - web-surfing, watching videos, preparing spreadsheets, photo-editing, video rendering etc. and give a subjective/qualitative assessment of suitability for each task, culminating in an "efficiency quotient" for each system in various roles. In our business we've substituted a number of our clients' staff-members' Windows desktop PCs with Pi-400s using LibreOffice, Google apps and RDP access to a terminal server where required. If you factor in up-front cost and ease of support (ie. "hard-disk" replacement) it's an unbeatable choice..

[@timpeterson2738]

Very cool test, thank you very much.

[@t8lucas]

As always very interesting and educational videos 👍🏻happily watching them :)

[@hasansalim1868]

Thanks Chris. A very relevant video.

[@thefrecklepuny]

Very interesting. And power consumption (and cooling) no doubt a major consideration when using CPU's and other components in space such as on satellites, probes and space stations.

[@ted_van_loon]

with sbc's you also get problems with the powersuply when measuring power since often powersuplies will eventually not go below a certain power lever and when they go bellow will just use the same amount of power.

[@ExplainingComputers]

True but completely irrelevant! :) What is being tested here is being accurately measured here is SYSTEM power use -- which with all kinds of technology, will be influenced by the power supply itself. So even if can SBC can be powered with less than the PSU can deliver, the working system cannot.

[@ted_van_loon]

@@ExplainingComputers yes that is true, would be unfair indeed to test the SBC without the powersuply, when comparing it to other computers, when only comparing SBC's it would be best to only test the SBC, but in this case doing so indeed would be unfair. however this brings up a interesting point, largely about great psu's for sbc's which work efficiently at both the high power draw and low power draw. perhaps there are no psu's designed speciffically for SBC's and with power efficiency in mind. but perhaps there are, or some might be very efficient on accident. sadly hard to test without manufacturer info, well or perhaps it could be tested using temperature generated from the device, adding in some EM reflectors(thin metal sheet around the test room to make sure any EM that is released is also turned into heat just in case one of them actually happens to generate little heat but instead radiate em). or for general tests I guess the heating up of a small contained space is enough since trapping in EM to really detect all wasted energy in general would be overkill, since only some really odd or crappy adapters might actually do something like that. seems like quite much of a pointless adventure to test it since in general people care so little about what happens inside that manufacturers often can even randomly change that and often they don't even tell anything about something like a design type or such, but perhaps I might make a device like such a room just using a arduino and some heat sensor, measuring inside and outside temps and then rather than just looking at hard numbers just seeing how they actually behave roughly on average and if there actually is a big difference between them. hard numbers in my case make little sense since I haven't really got many adapters capable of properly running a sbc. and the only one I have where it might be reasonable to expect that it actually keeps using roughly the same electronics is a raspberry pi 3B+ power adapter, since the others are more like phone charger adapters.

[@jockeberg4089]

Big respects that you buy processors partly based off of the power usage. Don't think most people ever care about that TDP number. I also have a "T"-style intel processor, because I have a passive cooling solution. But my case as well, also partly due to environmental reasons.

[@pavan13]

SBC are truly awesome I love sbc because of their small form factor and low power consumption.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Agreed. The power figures speak for themselves.

[@GainingDespair]

Their not bad, they really are not but their low power usage is by design. It's intentional and the goal, desktops will always use more due to their general purpose goal, but with that they are more flexible and preform a wide range of instruction sets effectively. I think the age of x86 is holding it back, so much built in compatibility needed for stuff which isn't exactly used anymore leading to a system which is more susceptible to exploitation on the hardware/firmware level. Both has their own purpose and both do it well, x86 paved the way and built the road allowing for SoC to shorten the distance more quickly. Without x86 SoC's wouldn't be nearly as "advanced" as they are now tho, I still really like them tho to see a relatively modern alternative to x86 growing in real time.

[@minepro1206]

Very nice video. It's interesting the Pi 4 consumes so little power even at maximum load (I guess the other 11 Watts are for peripherals). It would be very nice to see some kind of coefficient of performance, based on the sysbench results and the power consumption (maybe a simple division?).