Small energy efficient mini PC advice

[Whiffle]

Hi there.

I currently have a number of individual servers that I would like to combine into one machine:

* Raspberry Pi3B+ - running Homeassistant

* Odroid HC2 - running Openmediavault (with TVHeadend)

* Rasberry Pi1 - running PiHole

I have been patiently waiting for a Raspberry Pi4B (8GB) to become available but I have started to wonder whether ARM devices are necessarily the way to go.

With energy prices the way they are, I want to keep energy usage to a minimum wherever possible but am open to the possibility of an x86 device as well.

Any advice on what to look to do/consider would be much appreciated.

I was looking at building something from scratch, which would help have the advantage of being able to put my 3.5" drive in a case, rather than having it attached via usb3. However, parts seem so expensive at the moment.

Another options seem to be a mini PC, based off something like Tremont, which are available on Amazon for not too much and seem to be very frugal on energy use.

A third option seems to be a used thin client from the famous auction site - something like a Dell Wyze 5050 J5005. From what I have read, these seem to have very low energy levels as well, though I have just noticed that they use M.2 Sata and not NVME - not sure if that is going to give me issues, further down the line.

 

[Whiffle]

Thanks guys - that BeeLink looks really appealing, actually. Do you happen to know, roughly, how much energy it uses?

Is it an issue that it does not support NVME? I still use old fashioned 2.5" sata drives but I have noticed that the vast majority of M.2 sticks seem to be for NVME only.

I have been checking current prices of energy (about 0.50p per kWH) and this equates to about £45.00 a year at 10w 24/7, so anything below 10w would be great.

Completely agree about the HDD - I have it turn off after 20mins and it only really gets used for recording TV. I might consider recording directly to SDD and having the HDD for archived recordings only.

 

[Whiffle]

Thanks so much for this.

Having watched a few videos, that Beelink looks so good that I am going to go for it - one video suggested that, run headless and without Windows, idle can actually drop to 5 watts, which is crazy.

I was a slightly concerned by the fact that m.2 SSD sticks seem to be losing a lot of ground in comparison to NVMEs but I am sure that there will always be a market for them in the future.

Going to order one now - thanks again. Much appreciated.

 

[Whiffle]

one of the reasons I went for that one was because it has an internal m.2 ssd and you can fit your own 2.5" SSD later.

Mines running ubuntu server, hosting pi-hole, plex and openvpn. It's on 24/7, makes no noise, uses sod all power.......I bloody love it

We've all streamed 4k movies from it as some point, although I have dotted chromecasts around the home and set it to directplay. I've heard it can encode, and it does a good job too, but not something I personally need.

Typical.

I have finally gotten around to ordering the U59-Pro and noted that Beelink have another model - the S12 Pro for almost exactly the same price.

Should I go for that instead? As far as I can tell, the S12 seems to be the superior machine.

 

[Whiffle]

Thanks very much.

Am so glad I considered x86 devices.

I shall order the S12 Pro this evening. It is crazy that this machine is available than its predecessor, from the same site, for £1.00 less.

Makes no sense, to me, but nothing in the world seems to at the moment!

 

[Whiffle]

That is crazy - N95 having similar benchmark to 4th gen. i5!

The actual version I was looking at (the S12 Pro, as opposed to the S12) uses the N100 as opposed to the N95. Also comes with twice the storage and twice the RAM. https://www.bee-link.com/computer-73493777

Looks like a step up in energy use but has similar top-end specs.

Gracemont (microarchitecture) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

To be honest, I have never been an adopter of new technology but for around £200.00 I am tempted to take the plunge.

 

[Whiffle]

I am going to be using mine as a headless Linux server, so this sounds like an absolutely perfect fit. With the even lower power of the N100 chip, I am hoping that it will costs next to nothing to run as well, given that it will be on 24/7.

I will report back, with an update, just to confirm whether it was indeed a good purchase or not.

 

[Whiffle]

I know this isn't quite the thread for it but I'm starting to think these 'mini' PCs might be the future for me.

Last November I purchased the Beelink U59 Pro (N5105/16GB RAM/500 M.2 SSD) and paired it with a Crucial BX500 1TB 2.5" SSD in the internal 2.5" slot. Apart from a hiccup running OMV (which whilst really great piece of software was buggy for me) has been stellar running Ubuntu Server 22.04 for the last 3 months. I don't know how reliability or durability holds up but we shall see. Basically silent unless you reboot it and seems to be really solid. One thing I do like about the U59 Pro is the dual network ports, as I've had a faulty one of these on another PC motherboard before.

That S12 Pro looks to be a bargain too.

Last year I also bought a full PC setup which whilst brilliant for what it is (I only really play old or indie PC games) I wonder if down the line a more power mini PC is the way to go.

Thanks for the heads up on this.

I have never had an issue with OMV but I have always run it on older hardware.

As it is based on Debian, which favours stability over being up-to-date with the latest tech, I am taking a bit of a punt that the S12 Pro will end up working.

If not, I might have to consider the Ubunutu Server route instead.

 

[Whiffle]

Sorry - me again.

Could do with some further advice on this.

I ordered my S12 Pro via Beelink's official site - £208 including free shipping.

I have just been informed that the carrier, DHL, have the device and will not be releasing it unless I pay an additional £52.60 in import tax.

What would you do (or do I have little choice but to drop my trousers and bend over)?

Feel a bit aggrieved as nothing was mentioned on the site, about additional fees, and I am now being asked to stump up another 25% on top of the price already paid.

Had I known that I would having paying £260.00 in total, this may well have changed what I ended up going for.

 

[Whiffle]

Painful when that happens.

Personally I'd probably pay it. Wouldn't be happy but I'm not sure the alternative of sending it back would be worth the hassle.

I remember once buying a 3DS LL Famicom case for c.£20 and the thing ended up costing me £54 with admin and duty. Wasn't happy and moaned for days!

Thank you.

Damn it - I have looked and it looks like it is really difficult to get this machine in the UK, anyway, so anywhere I do it buy will be subject to the 20% approx. tax.

Certainly going to be moaning about it for a few days, myself.

What worries me, now, is how to be sure that I never get caught out like this again. Do I have to e-mail, in advance, to start asking companies where a device is coming from and whether there will be any additional fees that I will be expected to pay?

 

[Whiffle]

Credit where credit due - I contacted Beelink and they offered to reimburse me for 50% of the import tax.

Got the money within 24 hours, so much better outcome - shall just make sure to be a bit more careful in the future.

 

[Whiffle]

@Whiffle - how is this machine coping?

I have HA on a 3b+ and pihole on two other older pi's and like you I am thinking of consolidating these.

I'm a bit of a n00b (ok total n00b) with docker containers and virtual machines and the like. But I am willing to learn if this saves me pi hassle, gains me more HA stability, speed and unlocks a few extra Ethernet ports!!

Hi Pickers - best upgrade I have made, to be honest.

The S12 has never crashed, is silent and everything on it is lightning quick.

I have even stuck on a few extra dockers, since, and they again never slow ti down.

Could not recommend enough.

I am by no means an expert but feel free to let me know if I can help in any way, with your setup.