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I've found that most desktop PC-s have idle power usage around 35-50W. That was the main motivation to look for alternative solutions like ASRock Deskmini, or t

I've found that most desktop PC-s have idle power usage around 35-50W. That was the main motivation to look for alternative solutions like ASRock Deskmini, or the Dell/HP/Lenovo TinyMiniMicro form factor machines. Mini PC-s tend to have great idle power usage compared to big towers, which is probably down to the selection of the CPU, components on the motherboard and the power supply which usually has to only output 12V/19V. ATX PSU-s need to handle 3.3V/5V/12V, which probably plays a role in efficiency at idle.

vonseel 4y ago
Europe energy prices :/ Here in Texas it cost maybe $5/month to run a 45 watt little server (pc)…
- gruturo 4y ago
  Consider yourself lucky - in Germany we're talking 20 EUR/month for a constant 45W load. On the other hand, if you can, please consider using a more energy efficient alternative (and/or ensure you're getting the electricity from green sources) - the planet will warm up regardless of whether the electricity was cheap or expensive.
- dan1234 4y ago
  45W 24/7 would work out at about £10.50/month in the UK right now (~$12.60). My total household usage averages around 4.5KWh/day so adding that 45W 24/7 server would add about 24% to overall load! It would need to be an important little server to justify the increase.
guilamu 4y ago
You're right, using a desktop CPU for a mediacenter is not a good idea. Laptop CPUs are, however, really well optimised for very low consumption when idling and that's what you should be using for a mediacenter. Also, IMHO, ASRock Deskmini would not be a good idea for a media center since it's using desktop CPUs. The idle power draw will not be as good as mini pc with a laptop CPU.
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  Even desktop CPUs, at least Intel ones, sip power when idle (anecdote: my 12700K sips around 7W when idle).
  - jeffbee 4y ago
    If that's the CPU's own power consumption as measured by the CPU something is broken in your system or you have redefined "idle". When these things hit PC6—all cores off, caches off, iGPU refresh off—they should fall below 1W. This is a typical idle state for a desktop computer that is nominally "on" but nothing is happening.
    - Dalewyn 4y ago
      Idle as in sitting on the desktop doing practically nothing except for very minor and insignificant background tasks.
- hddherman 4y ago
  I've measured 11-15W idle power usage on a Deskmini X300 with a Ryzen 7 5700G, which is not bad for a socketed desktop CPU.
- ilyt 4y ago
  Then you need to look at motherboard power usage, that's another huge difference if CPU is already taking just few watts
Gareth321 4y ago
> I've found that most desktop PC-s have idle power usage around 35-50W. My desktop server uses 50W at idle. ASRock Z390 motherboard, Pentium G5400, 32GB RAM, no GPU. There are 15HDDs, but 50W is with all of them spun down. It hits 120W will all disks spun up and CPU under load. I've come to the conclusion it's the motherboard, because the parts individually shouldn't draw that much power.
mastax 4y ago
ATX even needs -12V, which was useful for RS232 at that point I guess.

vonseel 4y ago

Europe energy prices :/ Here in Texas it cost maybe $5/month to run a 45 watt little server (pc)…

gruturo 4y ago
Consider yourself lucky - in Germany we're talking 20 EUR/month for a constant 45W load. On the other hand, if you can, please consider using a more energy efficient alternative (and/or ensure you're getting the electricity from green sources) - the planet will warm up regardless of whether the electricity was cheap or expensive.
dan1234 4y ago
45W 24/7 would work out at about £10.50/month in the UK right now (~$12.60). My total household usage averages around 4.5KWh/day so adding that 45W 24/7 server would add about 24% to overall load! It would need to be an important little server to justify the increase.

guilamu 4y ago

You're right, using a desktop CPU for a mediacenter is not a good idea. Laptop CPUs are, however, really well optimised for very low consumption when idling and that's what you should be using for a mediacenter. Also, IMHO, ASRock Deskmini would not be a good idea for a media center since it's using desktop CPUs. The idle power draw will not be as good as mini pc with a laptop CPU.

Dalewyn 4y ago
Even desktop CPUs, at least Intel ones, sip power when idle (anecdote: my 12700K sips around 7W when idle).
- jeffbee 4y ago
  If that's the CPU's own power consumption as measured by the CPU something is broken in your system or you have redefined "idle". When these things hit PC6—all cores off, caches off, iGPU refresh off—they should fall below 1W. This is a typical idle state for a desktop computer that is nominally "on" but nothing is happening.
  - Dalewyn 4y ago
    Idle as in sitting on the desktop doing practically nothing except for very minor and insignificant background tasks.
hddherman 4y ago
I've measured 11-15W idle power usage on a Deskmini X300 with a Ryzen 7 5700G, which is not bad for a socketed desktop CPU.
ilyt 4y ago
Then you need to look at motherboard power usage, that's another huge difference if CPU is already taking just few watts

Gareth321 4y ago

> I've found that most desktop PC-s have idle power usage around 35-50W. My desktop server uses 50W at idle. ASRock Z390 motherboard, Pentium G5400, 32GB RAM, no GPU. There are 15HDDs, but 50W is with all of them spun down. It hits 120W will all disks spun up and CPU under load. I've come to the conclusion it's the motherboard, because the parts individually shouldn't draw that much power.

mastax 4y ago

ATX even needs -12V, which was useful for RS232 at that point I guess.