Typical Wattage at Idle - Model Comparison

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roblucid
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:17 pm

Typical Wattage at Idle - Model Comparison

Post by roblucid »

Are there any figures for Idle power consumption on Fit PC3 models with similar drive options?

I presume the website figures of 18W for Pro (AMD G-T56N RADEON HD 6320, dual 1.6GHz), and 7W for Low Power (AMD G-T40E RADEON HD 6250, dual 1.0GHz) models are maximum under load, TDP type figures.

Looking on website, I haven't seen figures for Idle consumption. The reason I am interested is for SOHO Linux server 24/7 application, where most of the time, I can expect idling, but more headroom for bursty activity is always nice and SOMETIMES someone would actually login & use the server as 2nd seat to browse web and work at. If that works well then the small server will be loved. An SSD is planned rather than HDD as system disk for fast application startup and for miserly power consumption.

My inclination would be (for peace of mind) to go with Pro to avoid sluggishness and make the system longterm more flexible. But if the idle power figures are very significantly different, then the "Green" credentials justifying the choice of Fit PC3 server would be compromised so that would decide me for the Low Power variant as it's intended for always on operation.

Arwen
Posts: 145
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:43 pm

Re: Typical Wattage at Idle - Model Comparison

Post by Arwen »

Yes, I would like to know this as well. I'd rather have dual cores for those
rare times I need it. But would prefer real low power like my fit-PC 1,
which sits idle most of the time.
Arwen Evenstar
Rivendale, Middle Earth

roblucid
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:17 pm

Re: Typical Wattage at Idle - Model Comparison

Post by roblucid »

roblucid wrote:Are there any figures for Idle power consumption on Fit PC3 models with similar drive options?

I presume the website figures of 18W for Pro (AMD G-T56N RADEON HD 6320, dual 1.6GHz), and 7W for Low Power (AMD G-T40E RADEON HD 6250, dual 1.0GHz) models are maximum under load, TDP type figures.

Looking on website, I haven't seen figures for Idle consumption.
Having researched round net Bobcat T56N netbooks appear to idle at 9W rising to 21W under heavy load. The bottom line seems to be about 2W, which is about the difference between a frugal SSD and a less efficient one. This idle difference on an always on box, adds up to 18 KWH per year so I suspect deploying the Pro might actually save energy & resources, through being used more heavily avoiding "heat spacer" PCs being regularly turned on.

Even better the info is hidden in the PDF Datasheets on Fit PC3 on the model pages then there's a table :

APU Power Consumption Model TDP
AMD G-T44R TBD Value 9W
AMD G-T40N 8-17W Basic 9W
AMD G-T40E 7-15W LP 6.4W
AMD G-T56N 9-24W Pro 18W

With note "Depends on System load" and the website tables switch the APU model numbers, Wikipedia & CPU World agree on Bobcat TDP figures so I think the T40N is Basic and T40E is the efficiency binned LP 6.4W version.

Please will Marketing ppl realise idle & peak system Wattage are far more useful than CPU manufacturer nominal TDP figures.

[ Apologies about crummy formatting and lack of website links, the forum settings are restrictive. ]

Andy
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:24 am

Re: Typical Wattage at Idle - Model Comparison

Post by Andy »

Hello there,

I have two question areas regarding the power consumption of fit-PC 3:

1) Are the provided power consumption figures a measurement of the power consumption at the AC (wall) socket? I.e. Do the figures take into consideration the power used by the transformer and a typical 5400rpm HDD such as that optionally shipped with the fit-PC 3? (Another words, would it be true to say that the fit-PC 3 Pro uses about 9W when idle including the power used by the transformer and the 5400rpm hard drive?)

If this is not the case, please could you provide a set of figures showing idle and peak power consumption for all models of fit-PC 3, that include the power used by the transformer and the 5400rpm HDD.

2) I assume that the power consumption figures have been taken while the fit-PC 3 was running with 'Aggressive Power Management' enabled. If this is the case, please could you provide another set of figures showing idle and peak power consumption for all models of fit-PC 3 where 'Aggressive Power Management' has been disabled. For clarity, please state whether these new figures include the transformer and HDD. That way we will know which other set of figures we can compare them against.

Thank you very much for your help

Andy

roblucid
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:17 pm

Re: Typical Wattage at Idle - Model Comparison

Post by roblucid »

Andy, I didn't find precise power consumption figures from Fit PC themselves, just the TDP style figures; I would expect it would cost the company a fair amount to provide such information to (would need careful validation). However the system idle and peak power times in Bobcat reviews were done IIRC with from wall power meters and indeed include disk drives. Hence my point about "frugal" SSD & less efficient ones.
If you worry about disk power consumption then the Samsung SSD's reduce that to insignificance.

Andy
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:24 am

Re: Typical Wattage at Idle - Model Comparison

Post by Andy »

Hellooo,

Check out this YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WhojySwnWw&feature=plcp

The video is 25 minutes long! If you want to save time, you will find the most relevant content at:

3.05 - 5.00 minutes
21.00 - 25-00 minutes

First of all we are told that the fit-PC3 Pro has a power-on peak of about 30 watts and a typical power consumption of about 22 watts with 'Aggressive Power Management' disabled. We are then told that it has a power-on peak of 25 watts and an average of about 22 watts with 'Aggressive Power Management' enabled.

With regards to 'Aggressive Power Management' specifically, we are told that movement of the cursor creates disturbances in the sound system when 'Aggressive Power Management' is enabled.

The last few minutes of this video show a demonstration of the idle power consumption of a fit-PC3 Pro running Linux. It is not a particularly helpful demonstration as it does not make clear the full configuration being tested. However, we are told that 'Aggressive Power Management' is disabled, and that the fit-PC3 Pro is idling at 17 watts.

It is suggested that the energy saving feature enabled by deactivating an attached monitor does not function with 'Aggressive Power Management' disabled.

Its not hard at all to measure the power consumption of an electrical appliance - including a computer at its idle and peak load (although I have to admit that the demonstration in this video would make it seem otherwise :mrgreen: ).

The power consumption figures presented in the video are much higher than I would have expected given the 9 to 24 watt range officially stated for fit-PC3 Pro. I am hoping that the person making the video has made an error, either in measuring the power consumption, or in setting up their fit-PC3 Pro correctly.

It would be most helpful if someone from CompuLab could comment on the apparent results presented in the video as outlined above.

Thanks very much

Andy

gabrielh
Site Admin
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Re: Typical Wattage at Idle - Model Comparison

Post by gabrielh »

Fit-PC3 Pro, 4GB RAM, Afaya 32GB SSD

Test conditions:
Single DVI monitor, Dell mouse and keyboard set. Linux Mint 13 x64
ACPM: ON
System Idle: 12.2w average, 15.4w peak
Stress test (mprime):
Power consumption: 23.6w with a monitor attached, 23w w/o a monitor attached (21.5w w/o any peripherals attached). 23.9w at a peak
Surface temperature: 45C

Test conditions:
Single DVI monitor, Dell mouse and keyboard set. Linux Mint 13 x64
ACPM: OFF
System Idle: 13.4w average, 15.4w peak
Stress test (mprime): 23.7w with a monitor attached, 23w w/o a monitor attached (21.5w w/o any peripherals attached). 23.9w at a peak
Surface temperature: 45C
Gabriel Heifets

Fit-PC2/3/IntensePC support.

roblucid
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:17 pm

Re: Typical Wattage at Idle - Model Comparison

Post by roblucid »

Thanks for posting that, I only re-found this thread today. I'll add the ACPM, is the BIOS option, Disable/Enable Aggressive Power Management which as delivered is disabled as it tends to lead to quiet tick/buzz noises which sound like active laptop spinning rust hard drives.

Personally I went for Fit3 Pro, picked up an energy saving SSD at a bargain price and even the lowly Bobcat based APU makes a great little unobtrusive server, which is also comfortable for web browsing, media, productivity and software development; is only warm to touch not hot.

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