Best cpu low power consumption for a server ?

[JamesAdams]

Hi,

 

I'm looking for a cpu for a new server that will be used to run docker containers (50-60) (Plex, home automation, radarr...)
There will also be a linux vm running from time to time + 1 or 2 minecraft servers.
So a 4/8 or 6/12 core cpu will do the job.

 

Here is the list of cpu that look interesting :

i5-11500T
i3-10100T / i3-10105T / i3-10305T
I3-11400T / I3-11500T / I3-11600T
I3-12100T / I3-12300T / I3-12400T / I3-12500T / I3-12400TE / I3-12600T

 

I want to make a server that consumes as little as possible (less than 30W in idle without hard drive)
Any ideas ? advices ? opinions ?

Thanks.

[mariushm]

My advice... don't go for those T models. 

 

The system will consume little power at idle, the processors are good enough to turn off cores and lower frequencies automatically. 

So your T processors will idle at 5w , the regular processors will maybe idle at 7w ... you're not saving much power. 

But you'll definitely take a performance hit when you actually need things to run fast. 

 

AMD also makes low power processors, the GE ones... but seriously a 5600G will consume up to 60-70 watts when used at 100% and maybe 10w idle. Put it on a B520 motherboard that consumes 10w or so when idle, and you have a sub 30w system.

 

You could also look for those tiny 1-2 liter Lenovo machines, for example : 

$500 Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q (Ryzen 5 4650GE, 8 GB ram, 256 GB SSD) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/275307221178?epid=8042853078

$210 Lenovo ThinkCentre M715Q Tiny AMD RYZEN 5 2400GE 3.2GHz 8GB RAM (no hard drive or AC adapter included, you need Lenovo AC adapter ) :   https://www.ebay.com/itm/185419068485

 

 

 

[--SID--]

The idle powerconsumption of a T CPU is not different from a 'normal' CPU. My i5-12600K system (no dGPU) idle power consumption is 28w at the wall socket. i5-11600 + GTX 1650 D6 idles with 30w.

[JamesAdams]

3 minutes ago, mariushm said:

My advice... don't go for those T models. 

 

The system will consume little power at idle, the processors are good enough to turn off cores and lower frequencies automatically. 

So your T processors will idle at 5w , the regular processors will maybe idle at 7w ... you're not saving much power. 

But you'll definitely take a performance hit when you actually need things to run fast. 

 

AMD also makes low power processors, the GE ones... but seriously a 5600G will consume up to 60-70 watts when used at 100% and maybe 10w idle. Put it on a B520 motherboard that consumes 10w or so when idle, and you have a sub 30w system.

 

You could also look for those tiny 1-2 liter Lenovo machines, for example : 

$500 Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q (Ryzen 5 4650GE, 8 GB ram, 256 GB SSD) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/275307221178?epid=8042853078

$210 Lenovo ThinkCentre M715Q Tiny AMD RYZEN 5 2400GE 3.2GHz 8GB RAM (no hard drive or AC adapter included, you need Lenovo AC adapter ) :   https://www.ebay.com/itm/185419068485

 

 

 

Thanks for this informations.

 

For the tiny machine is not possible i have 8 hard drive for the serveur.

I prefer to start on an intel because the igpu can be used by Plex

 

And I'm interested in the i5-11500T so that even when it's at 100% it doesn't consume too much power, ideally I don't want to exceed 100W when the server is at 100% (with all server components)

[JamesAdams]

5 minutes ago, --SID-- said:

The idle powerconsumption of a T CPU is not different from a 'normal' CPU. My i5-12600K system (no dGPU) idle power consumption is 28w at the wall socket. i5-11600 + GTX 1650 D6 idles with 30w.

Yes, but for me what is also important is the consumption when the server is at 100% and for that reason the model T will consume much less

[mariushm]

9 minutes ago, JamesAdams said:

 

And I'm interested in the i5-11500T so that even when it's at 100% it doesn't consume too much power, ideally I don't want to exceed 100W when the server is at 100% (with all server components)

 

9 minutes ago, JamesAdams said:

For the tiny machine is not possible i have 8 hard drive for the serveur.

I prefer to start on an intel because the igpu can be used by Plex

 

And I'm interested in the i5-11500T so that even when it's at 100% it doesn't consume too much power, ideally I don't want to exceed 100W when the server is at 100% (with all server components)

 

A spinning hard drive will consume around 6-10 watts.  8 hard drives will consume around 50 watts when spinning, no way around that. 

You have motherboard consuming around 5-15 watts (chipset, onboard audio, onboard network), and you have the RAM consuming around 2-3 watts per stick of ram.

Each fan will take around 1-2 watts from 12v.

 

The CPU VRM will be around 92-95% efficient - CPU consumes 35 watts, the VRM will actually take 38-40w from the power supply. 

 

An ATX power supply will be around 85% efficient at 100w so unless you get a motherboard that can be powered from a laptop adapter, you're not gonna get your 100w.

 

[JamesAdams]

24 minutes ago, mariushm said:

 

 

A spinning hard drive will consume around 6-10 watts.  8 hard drives will consume around 50 watts when spinning, no way around that. 

You have motherboard consuming around 5-15 watts (chipset, onboard audio, onboard network), and you have the RAM consuming around 2-3 watts per stick of ram.

Each fan will take around 1-2 watts from 12v.

 

The CPU VRM will be around 92-95% efficient - CPU consumes 35 watts, the VRM will actually take 38-40w from the power supply. 

 

An ATX power supply will be around 85% efficient at 100w so unless you get a motherboard that can be powered from a laptop adapter, you're not gonna get your 100w.

 

Ok, for the cpu i don't found the power concumption, how calculate the real ? not de TDP

[mariushm]

You look for reviews of said processor. 

Lots of websites have comparative benchmarks and list the power consumption of lots of processors. 

 

Problem is those T processors are used mostly in laptops, where the laptop manufacturer can force the power consumption to some levels through BIOS settings... ex the 35w TDP CPU could be locked at 15w or 25w depending on the cooling solution used... or there's settings allowing 35w for up to 20 seconds (or some random amount) until the thermal solution heats up to the point where it can no longer cool adequately and then the bios throttles the cpu down to 15-25w. 

 

Here's a bunch of processors and their power consumption:

 

2021 Peak power measured at the CPU power header : https://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU-2020/2734

Hover mouse over the talk bubble picture to see what configuration and power supply, but it matters very little, as we're talking about less than 1% difference in VRM efficiencies between boards used for testing. The rest doesn't matter, as it's powered measured at the header, not total system power.

 

2019 (Full load power consumption at cpu power header) :  https://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU-2019/2194

 

They changed the benchmark system and programs they use to benchmark in 2021, so all processors tested between 2019 and 2021 are in the link above. Power consumption is measured the same so numbers should not change.

 

Techpowerup tends to review processors and then there's a chart where that CPU is in chart along with 20-ish other processors.  BUT, they use total system power (so including motherboard, ram, power supply efficiency losses etc)

 

Here's their reviews : https://www.techpowerup.com/review/?category=Processors&manufacturer=&pp=25&order=date

 

Example of power consumption chart in a review : https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i3-12300/20.html

 

They also have a database of processor reviews on other websites here : https://www.techpowerup.com/reviewdb/Processors/

 

 

[JamesAdams]

26 minutes ago, mariushm said:

You look for reviews of said processor. 

Lots of websites have comparative benchmarks and list the power consumption of lots of processors. 

 

Problem is those T processors are used mostly in laptops, where the laptop manufacturer can force the power consumption to some levels through BIOS settings... ex the 35w TDP CPU could be locked at 15w or 25w depending on the cooling solution used... or there's settings allowing 35w for up to 20 seconds (or some random amount) until the thermal solution heats up to the point where it can no longer cool adequately and then the bios throttles the cpu down to 15-25w. 

 

Here's a bunch of processors and their power consumption:

 

2021 Peak power measured at the CPU power header : https://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU-2020/2734

Hover mouse over the talk bubble picture to see what configuration and power supply, but it matters very little, as we're talking about less than 1% difference in VRM efficiencies between boards used for testing. The rest doesn't matter, as it's powered measured at the header, not total system power.

 

2019 (Full load power consumption at cpu power header) :  https://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU-2019/2194

 

They changed the benchmark system and programs they use to benchmark in 2021, so all processors tested between 2019 and 2021 are in the link above. Power consumption is measured the same so numbers should not change.

 

Techpowerup tends to review processors and then there's a chart where that CPU is in chart along with 20-ish other processors.  BUT, they use total system power (so including motherboard, ram, power supply efficiency losses etc)

 

Here's their reviews : https://www.techpowerup.com/review/?category=Processors&manufacturer=&pp=25&order=date

 

Example of power consumption chart in a review : https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i3-12300/20.html

 

They also have a database of processor reviews on other websites here : https://www.techpowerup.com/reviewdb/Processors/

 

 

Ok, thanks for this

[wseaton]

I was under the impression the T-series gimmick was more power saving capabilities via the OS and thread affinity. To allow the OS more granular control of what threads should go where based on application / thread demands vs just scheduling threads 'flat' across all cores.

 

I would be hesitant just assuming Docker or VM's in general will take advantage of T-series. Maybe I missed a memo or something, but a Hypervisor is likely not going to give a flip about T-series affinity because it can't see the application anyways.