Re: Rpi considerations

Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:

Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

"Replacement" for what other desktops in that price range?
 
Maybe compared to something second-hand that is 10 years old, and consumes
10x the power, perhaps.

 
I think you're a bit behind the times there.  PCs (as in x86_64 based)
can now be found, even second hand, that consume only four or five
watts. I have a number of Fujitsu Esprimo systems (Q557 and Q957) with
power consumption down around five watts, I'm sure there are other
manufacturers' systems similar.

 
Interesting, did you find somewhere online that told you this
before buying one? The specs I find for them are just the power
supply wattage (and even that can take a lot of hunting sometimes),
which for the Fujitsu Esprimo Q557 is 65W. I tried to find details
about idle power consumption for these mini desktop systems and
never got anywhere, except for x86_64 SBCs, so I bought one of them
instead (similar wattage to what you quote, but a slower CPU).
 

Refurbished Q556s can be bought for around ?50 which compares
pretty favourably with a Pi 5, plus case, plus power supply, etc.

 
If there was a physical shop selling them nearby me I'd turn up
there with a power meter in-hand. It's very frustrating that the
manufacturers don't talk about it (though RPi don't either, users
just happen to post their own measurements online in places I can
find).
 

I agree absolutely about the almost total lack of actual power
consumption figures for PCs.  It took me a long, long time to find
some useful figures.  I did find something in the end though, it's a
spreadsheet from 'EU Energy Star', the one I have is a few years old
but it covers systems up to four or five years ago so is ideal for
refurbished systems like the Esprimo ones above.  (That should be Q556
not Q557 by the way).

The file name of the actual spreadsheet I have is:-

    eu_energy_star_computers_61_-_20180220.xlsx

I think searching for that name should get you somewhere, but if not
then drop me an E-Mail (valid address here) and I'll send you a copy.

--
Chris Green
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