Low power/efficient computing

[vexed87]

I recall some threads here where low power consumption PCs have been mentioned, but can't seem to find them. NUC PCs seem to get a lot of love on same dated off-grid articles I happened to bookmark. Is anyone aware of more efficient systems available now? Who here uses these low power systems? Have you experienced any major limitations in daily tasks? I imagine gaming modern titles is impossible. I'm prepared to give that up entirely anyway, having tired of my recent resurgence in interest in FPS titles. As a result, I’m now finally considering giving up my tower PC.

Combined with monitor, keyboard, mouse and all other peripherals, average consumption during demanding tasks is usually <300 watts, and I don't leave it on or idle often, still this kind of consumption means my future plans to go off grid will require a larger more expensive solar array and battery bank. Particularly as these high powered PSUs require alternating current. Apart from our TV, PCs and a few redundant kitchen gadgets, I could in theory switch to DC. DC being ideal for a cheap small scale PV 12volt solar system. It leaves me wondering if these NUC style PCs are a good fit, or could I do better?

[jacob]

I use a NUC (from 2015) with a dual screen setup on Ubuntu LTS. Daily tasks involve "office work" (mainly internet stuff) and there are no limitations there (I can run 50+ tabs open at the same time w/o issues). I might have low standards though. I'm currently typing this on a 2009 laptop which albeit slower than the NUC is fine for me too. I have no idea about gaming. I haven't played any FPS since year 2000 or so.

Intel recently came out with a lower form-factor NUC which is about half the height of the old one.

The NUC uses about the same power as a laptop. We're talking about 20W+monitors. (I presume you're not going to use it to mine bitcoins or cure cancer. Gunning the system takes it up to 60W+). It's low enough that you could rig this to a stationary bike with an alternator and run it with light pedaling if you want to go off grid. Even a couch potato can do 100W for an hour.

PS: The NUC used to have a problem with software suspend mode and the power button which if pressed in the wrong sequence would brick the unit until you removed the battery for 60 seconds. The battery is, of course, hidden at the bottom of the mobo under everything else (ARGH). This issue has been fixed with a BIOS upgrade. => The NUC is reaching some level of maturity by now.

PPS: The NUC runs off an external PSU, so DC inputs are okay. It's rated at 12-19V.

[Riggerjack]

And remember, all electricity used generates heat, at 100% efficiency. So, your 300w system kicks out as much heat into your off grid home as 1/5 of a 1500w heater. So if you are in a predominantly heating zone, the waste isn't really waste.

[Campitor]

Could you modify your NUC to use something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/250w-DC-ATX-Powe ... B00NB6U3TS

[vexed87]

@jacob, thanks that's helpful.

As it happens, I think my tower motherboard just failed, that or there's something wrong with the RAM I recently added, I'm suffering the dreaded BSOD on a regular basis. It may be forcing my hand to downgrade sooner rather than later.

@Riggerjack, yes you're quite right, that's one of the reasons I have not replaced all our incandescent bulbs with LED alternatives, they act as handy heat sources in occupied rooms and are far more environmentally friendly to manufacture and dispose of than high tech alternatives like LED and fluorescent lighting. However, Solar PV isn't an appropriate heat source for the home, so heat losses needs to be minimised.

Campitor, not sure it's necessary if they come supplied with a DC power brick.

[luxagraf]

Back when I lived in a house I used a NUC to power a media center (XMBC running on Arch Linux). Occassionally it would get stuttery with really high res files (1080p video of really long movies), but for the most part it was fine. I wouldn't want to edit video with one, but otherwise I can't see processing power being a problem. Never measured the power draw though.

[SavingWithBabies]

A nice modern-day NUC alternative is the Asrock Deskmini (review). It requires some assembly however it supports modern desktop CPUs in a small form factor. I have two at the moment. With the included laptop-style power supply, my computer uses 18w at idle with an i3-7100 CPU. You can get way more bang for the buck and the watt with a Deskmini over a NUC although the Deskmini is a DIY build as you still need to buy memory, a hard disk (definitely get an SSD), and a CPU. That leaves it pretty wide open in terms of costs.

The site PCPartPicker.com has a nice user builds section and here is an inexpensive build great for Windows/Linux (if you want to run OS X as a Hackintosh, you'll want an i3/i5/i7 CPU):

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/ymr6Mp (not my build, just searched for one -- find more with "deskmini")

That totals $316.38 USD and you could drop the 500GB drive to save another $20 (and have less noise).

[bryan]

I would point out that you should look to the markets that really care about power efficient computing. Smartphones, chromebooks, or ultra-light laptops come to mind (I would argue NUCs are not such a market). They have gone through a few generations of evolution with power efficiency shaping them. Just be sure you aren't too reliant on the SW for power savings (e.g. apple). You could re-purpose one of these devices to suit your needs (external monitor, new OS, etc).

For example, Chromebook Plus has a 39Wh battery, so at 9h of active run time (this includes the monitor!!) that means ~4.3W typical. That's less than half the power consumed by an at idle NUC..

[SavingWithBabies]

@bryan That is a fair point but it really depends then on what the proposed usage is and the energy budget. I've found an external display can use a fair number of watts too. My current big monitor is ~40 watts. The other factor is the ultra power efficient devices are usually hampered in I/O and other aspects that may take them out of consideration depending on how one plans to use them. By that, I mean I would gladly use my Deskmini for daily work (and do so) but I would not be so happy if I had to do the same on a lower end Chromebook (and maybe even a higher end one).

[bryan]

With USB-C, I/O situation is much better. But what you say is clear. If you are playing an FPS or rendering something, you won't want a chromebook (however, these devices are already absolutely better than what you might have been used to, say, 10 years ago). Don't dismiss it without a real reason. I've also used my chromebook to SSH/VNC into a more powerful machine to do some heavy lifting stuff (my own or company's server; haven't priced out third party compute which would be the easiest thing if you were going for a more minimal lifestyle).

[SavingWithBabies]

@bryan I agree completely although I was referring more to internal bandwidth between CPU and components (ie memory and disk). For me, the happy point in efficiency/power is right at the Deskmini. But I'm a software developer often running slow build processes, virtual machines, etc. I dislike waiting and appreciate being able to pick my memory and disk. If my use case was different, I might find a more efficient platform more compelling. If I was off the grid, I would probably use the same computer and add more solar panels/batteries although I would more closely investigate my options.

That's a lot about me but maybe it's useful. I would love to try the latest Chromebook from Google.