Worth changing from FX8320 to i3 4170 to lower power usage?


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Hey all.

I'm running my Unraid server on an FX8320. I don't do a lot of intensive things on it (few dockers, mainly nextcloud, bitwarden, Home Assistant and Plex; mainly for 1 stream and hardly ever transcoding). I don't feel like the CPU is being utilised very much, and the idle power consumption of the system is pretty high, averaging at around 100W, costing me around €18/month. I have 7HDDs and 3SSDs, but even if I spin them all down (most are spun down due to not being used anyways), the power consumption doesn't change a lot, so I suspect my CPU, since I don't have a GPU in the system.

I got my hands on (=free) an i3 4170, and from what I can find, the idle power consumption is way lower than the 8320, around 50%.

I have a motherboard for the i3, but it only has 2x SATA3 (and 2x SATA2)ports and only 2 RAM slots, so to use that as I do now, that would require me to buy new ram and a new cable for my HBA, and I think getting a used mainboard is cheaper. I found ones that will do what I need for around €50-75.

 

My question is as follows:

Is it worth it investing around €50-75 for a motherboard to replace my current 8320 setup, or will I get performance issues? Is the difference in power draw really thát significant? If so, the change will earn itself back pretty fast, but if I get issues running things, It's not worth it for me.

Edited by FooYoungHi
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  • FooYoungHi changed the title to Worth changing from FX8320 to i3 4170 to lower power usage?
2 hours ago, FooYoungHi said:

averaging at around 100W, costing me around €18/month

it seems non-reasonable, how much electricity cost per 1kw from power company ?

 

2 hours ago, FooYoungHi said:

will I get performance issues?

Seems to be, i3-4170 too weak. Base on this, I wouldn't go ahead because you need cost for mobo and RAM. 

 

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2 hours ago, Vr2Io said:

it seems non-reasonable, how much electricity cost per 1kw from power company ?

I pay around €0.25 for 1 KWh in the Netherlands. I just browsed around, and it seems it is more around €0.30 if you get a new contract now...

 

2 hours ago, Vr2Io said:

Seems to be, i3-4170 too weak. Base on this, I wouldn't go ahead because you need cost for mobo and RAM.

I already have the RAM, but in 4 sticks of 4GB, so Ideally I'd need a Mobo with 4 slots. Shame to read that the i3 might not cut it. Are there any tasks in particular you think it will bottleneck, or is it just keeping my dockers/system running?

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1 hour ago, FooYoungHi said:

I pay around €0.25 for 1 KWh in the Netherlands. I just browsed around, and it seems it is more around €0.30 if you get a new contract now...

If charge €0.25 per 1Kwh then cost was €18/month, it really expansive.

 

1 hour ago, FooYoungHi said:

I already have the RAM, but in 4 sticks of 4GB, so Ideally I'd need a Mobo with 4 slots. Shame to read that the i3 might not cut it. Are there any tasks in particular you think it will bottleneck, or is it just keeping my dockers/system running?

 

How much CPU % loading currently with fx8320 ?

 

It is hard to estimate the power saving, for example, fx8320 TDP was 125w, but in low-mid loading, it may just draw 65w actually, if same software loading apply on i3-4170, it may almost fully load the CPU and reach TDP 45w. Then, power saving just 20w.

 

So, a key factor is the CPU loading when running on i3-4170.

 

There also a example FYR, I use different CPU in my builds, TDP was 65w 95w 165w, but In fact, all almost use same power ( CPU and mobo ) during light CPU loading.

Edited by Vr2Io
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5 hours ago, FooYoungHi said:

every 10-15 seconds seems to go to 30% for a second

It doesn't matter. In my opinion, with such light CPU loading, you wouldn't save much power if change to i3-4170.

 

Or you could pin all stuff only use 3 to 4 CPU core to evelatuate the status if using i3-4170.

Edited by Vr2Io
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