5 ms·

Another option, if your needs are relatively modest, is to choose a low power mini PC. The one I chose idles at around 5W under Linux before any tweaking. It is

Another option, if your needs are relatively modest, is to choose a low power mini PC. The one I chose idles at around 5W under Linux before any tweaking. It is based on the Intel N5105. I have a few 2.5” external HDDs attached for backup which are configured to sleep after a short time.

trustingtrust 3y ago
A lot of times I want to build something on my homeserver and N5105 ain’t gonna cut it. I don’t build every day or every hour but if I want to I would have to turn it on and off every time.
oneshtein 3y ago
Another option is to use a smartphone with damaged screen, USB Ethernet card and an external USB drive.
- CraigJPerry 3y ago
  This was always attractive to me, how are you running a linux host on the phone or are you just using native android hosted services?
  - oneshtein 3y ago
    I use a custom firmware with Termux. It's enough for me. https://medium.com/junior-dev/how-to-re-purpose-your-old-android-phone-by-running-linux-on-it-1310df46b3fe https://medium.com/junior-dev/how-to-re-purpose-your-old-and...
    - CraigJPerry 3y ago
      That looks good enough for me, thanks!
      - oneshtein 3y ago
        Don't forget to turn on option "Don't turn screen off when charging". Use a less powerful charger to power the smartphone. 5 Watt charger is enough. 2.5 Watt may work too.
- traverseda 3y ago
  I think you'll be disappointed by the kernel support, especially if you want to run docker containers or anything like that.
  - awoimbee 3y ago
    Indeed, running docker on android requires a custom kernel: https://gist.github.com/FreddieOliveira/efe850df7ff3951cb62d74bd770dce27 https://gist.github.com/FreddieOliveira/efe850df7ff3951cb62d... The pixel 6 and 7 have full KVM capabilities tho: https://www.patreon.com/posts/74333551 https://www.patreon.com/posts/74333551
    - MayeulC 3y ago
      You could also use postmarketos, mobian, etc. Have a look at the pmOS wiki for device support, most support USB OTG, and usually you don't need GPU acceleration nor screen/audio/cameras, which are usual pain points.
    - j45 3y ago
      The pixel 6 and 7 options are awesome
HankB99 3y ago
I'm curious if you have measured power at the well (e.g. smart plug with energy metering or Kill-a-watt.) I just set up a test server with a J1900 (10W TDP.) With 8GB RAM and running from an SSD it uses 25W. Add 4 7200RPM HDDs and it's up to 65W idling. I have another test server based on a Raspberry Pi 4B. The Pi boots from SD card and uses about 5W. Add 2 drives in a USB drive bay and power for the setup is now up to 25W.
- heywire 3y ago
  This was measured with an old school Kill-a-Watt. When idle, the HDDs spin down. Keep in mind these are 2.5” likely 5400rpm or less (WD Passport 2TB).
- j45 3y ago
  UPS’ also have this feature and it’s interesting to see the idle vs load wattage. I like the idea of making compute, storage into appliances if possible locally. It’s best to use ssds in the machines. If you want spinning drives put them in a dedicated nas for storage.
- PragmaticPulp 3y ago
  > I just set up a test server with a J1900 (10W TDP.) With 8GB RAM and running from an SSD it uses 25W. Did you use a regular desktop power supply? PC power supplies can consume 10-15W or more at idle. To build a low power system you need to find a good low power, high efficiency power supply.
  - amiga386 3y ago
    Does anyone know a good supplier for such supplies? For 10 years my home server used a Corsair VS350; it was fantastic, and very efficient at low power draw. Recently the fan failed. The PSU seems discontinued. The _fan_ seems discontinued. I'm going to try replacing the fan but I don't know much about electronics. As a temporary measure, I got a regular "gaming PC" PSU and it has 10% more power draw, it's not efficient at all. I've been looking for a replacement PSU, and I can only really find very high power ones - minimum about 550W - for reasonable prices. While you can run a low wattage PC on such PSUs, none of them make very much in the way of efficiency promises; only the highest certification, 80 Plus Titanium, makes efficiency promises for 10% load, e.g. it'll be 90% efficient for a 55W load on a 550W supply. Lower certifications only promise to be e.g. 80% efficient for a 110W load on a 550W supply, and make no promises at all about a 55W or 30W load. So, how does one buy a good low power, high efficiency PSU, without it costing a fortune?
bioemerl 3y ago
I feel like there's a lot of room in the market for a chip that sips power but has a billion PCIE lanes and RAM. Does such a system exist?
- PragmaticPulp 3y ago
  PCIe switch chips can be used to multiplex many devices on to a few lanes already, today. There isn’t much market demand for an extremely low power chip with excessive PCIe IO and a ton of RAM because most applications with high RAM and IO requirements are going to be very power intensive. It’s already possible to build an Intel system with plenty of RAM and IO where the CPU doesn’t take much power. For building a high capacity NAS you don’t need the throughput of PCIe for all of your drives. Cheap SATA SSDs can easily saturate your network link when used in parallel.
j45 3y ago
Low powered pcs are the way to go for self hosting. Lots of great options that sip power at idle (most of the time) Desktop grade cpus can be found that max at 35W. The power per watt of sa
- j45 3y ago
  Completing the sentence above Cpu-Power point per watt is what you're after. And then, electricty cost per watt-point. 8th gen intel and above cpus are quite perfect for this, they often have hyperthreading and vPRO built into an enterprise/military grade box for hundreds and have near perfect linux support out of the box, whether it's Lenovo, HP, Dell, etc.
rkangel 3y ago
I've just bought a Pi for some always on stuff (like Home Assistant). I wanted to buy a mini-PC but I found it really hard to identify which ones would have low idle power. Did you find a good reference for this?
solraph 3y ago
Honestly, this is the right answer. I have a HP ProDesk 300 G3 mini (the mini version of the server the OP is using) running home assistant, syncthing, a bunch of other random 24x7 stuff, and the "server", router, and PoE switch powering two Wifi APs is drawing a grand total of 9 watts*. It just doesn't seem worth the effort to try and make this more efficient. * According to the UPS.

trustingtrust 3y ago

A lot of times I want to build something on my homeserver and N5105 ain’t gonna cut it. I don’t build every day or every hour but if I want to I would have to turn it on and off every time.

oneshtein 3y ago

Another option is to use a smartphone with damaged screen, USB Ethernet card and an external USB drive.

CraigJPerry 3y ago
This was always attractive to me, how are you running a linux host on the phone or are you just using native android hosted services?
- oneshtein 3y ago
  I use a custom firmware with Termux. It's enough for me. https://medium.com/junior-dev/how-to-re-purpose-your-old-android-phone-by-running-linux-on-it-1310df46b3fe https://medium.com/junior-dev/how-to-re-purpose-your-old-and...
  - CraigJPerry 3y ago
    That looks good enough for me, thanks!
    - oneshtein 3y ago
      Don't forget to turn on option "Don't turn screen off when charging". Use a less powerful charger to power the smartphone. 5 Watt charger is enough. 2.5 Watt may work too.
traverseda 3y ago
I think you'll be disappointed by the kernel support, especially if you want to run docker containers or anything like that.
- awoimbee 3y ago
  Indeed, running docker on android requires a custom kernel: https://gist.github.com/FreddieOliveira/efe850df7ff3951cb62d74bd770dce27 https://gist.github.com/FreddieOliveira/efe850df7ff3951cb62d... The pixel 6 and 7 have full KVM capabilities tho: https://www.patreon.com/posts/74333551 https://www.patreon.com/posts/74333551
  - MayeulC 3y ago
    You could also use postmarketos, mobian, etc. Have a look at the pmOS wiki for device support, most support USB OTG, and usually you don't need GPU acceleration nor screen/audio/cameras, which are usual pain points.
  - j45 3y ago
    The pixel 6 and 7 options are awesome

HankB99 3y ago

I'm curious if you have measured power at the well (e.g. smart plug with energy metering or Kill-a-watt.) I just set up a test server with a J1900 (10W TDP.) With 8GB RAM and running from an SSD it uses 25W. Add 4 7200RPM HDDs and it's up to 65W idling. I have another test server based on a Raspberry Pi 4B. The Pi boots from SD card and uses about 5W. Add 2 drives in a USB drive bay and power for the setup is now up to 25W.

heywire 3y ago
This was measured with an old school Kill-a-Watt. When idle, the HDDs spin down. Keep in mind these are 2.5” likely 5400rpm or less (WD Passport 2TB).
j45 3y ago
UPS’ also have this feature and it’s interesting to see the idle vs load wattage. I like the idea of making compute, storage into appliances if possible locally. It’s best to use ssds in the machines. If you want spinning drives put them in a dedicated nas for storage.
PragmaticPulp 3y ago
> I just set up a test server with a J1900 (10W TDP.) With 8GB RAM and running from an SSD it uses 25W. Did you use a regular desktop power supply? PC power supplies can consume 10-15W or more at idle. To build a low power system you need to find a good low power, high efficiency power supply.
- amiga386 3y ago
  Does anyone know a good supplier for such supplies? For 10 years my home server used a Corsair VS350; it was fantastic, and very efficient at low power draw. Recently the fan failed. The PSU seems discontinued. The _fan_ seems discontinued. I'm going to try replacing the fan but I don't know much about electronics. As a temporary measure, I got a regular "gaming PC" PSU and it has 10% more power draw, it's not efficient at all. I've been looking for a replacement PSU, and I can only really find very high power ones - minimum about 550W - for reasonable prices. While you can run a low wattage PC on such PSUs, none of them make very much in the way of efficiency promises; only the highest certification, 80 Plus Titanium, makes efficiency promises for 10% load, e.g. it'll be 90% efficient for a 55W load on a 550W supply. Lower certifications only promise to be e.g. 80% efficient for a 110W load on a 550W supply, and make no promises at all about a 55W or 30W load. So, how does one buy a good low power, high efficiency PSU, without it costing a fortune?

bioemerl 3y ago

I feel like there's a lot of room in the market for a chip that sips power but has a billion PCIE lanes and RAM. Does such a system exist?

PragmaticPulp 3y ago
PCIe switch chips can be used to multiplex many devices on to a few lanes already, today. There isn’t much market demand for an extremely low power chip with excessive PCIe IO and a ton of RAM because most applications with high RAM and IO requirements are going to be very power intensive. It’s already possible to build an Intel system with plenty of RAM and IO where the CPU doesn’t take much power. For building a high capacity NAS you don’t need the throughput of PCIe for all of your drives. Cheap SATA SSDs can easily saturate your network link when used in parallel.

j45 3y ago

Low powered pcs are the way to go for self hosting. Lots of great options that sip power at idle (most of the time) Desktop grade cpus can be found that max at 35W. The power per watt of sa

j45 3y ago
Completing the sentence above Cpu-Power point per watt is what you're after. And then, electricty cost per watt-point. 8th gen intel and above cpus are quite perfect for this, they often have hyperthreading and vPRO built into an enterprise/military grade box for hundreds and have near perfect linux support out of the box, whether it's Lenovo, HP, Dell, etc.

rkangel 3y ago

I've just bought a Pi for some always on stuff (like Home Assistant). I wanted to buy a mini-PC but I found it really hard to identify which ones would have low idle power. Did you find a good reference for this?

solraph 3y ago

Honestly, this is the right answer. I have a HP ProDesk 300 G3 mini (the mini version of the server the OP is using) running home assistant, syncthing, a bunch of other random 24x7 stuff, and the "server", router, and PoE switch powering two Wifi APs is drawing a grand total of 9 watts*. It just doesn't seem worth the effort to try and make this more efficient. * According to the UPS.