Re: how many W a PSU for non-gaming Debian?
On 05/03/2022 04:24, Emanuel Berg wrote:
I've heard that for gaming you would want a 600~800W PSU [1]
but how do I know how many W I need for my computer use?
I think the most resource-intense I do would be compiling and
watching multimedia on mpv. [2]
Not sure this is going to help you, because mine is a low-power Intel
build and you have a lot of AMD stuff, but, for the record, it is
possible to get a lot done with very little power consumption, if you
use a mid-range TDP CPU with an integrated GPU and stick to one SSD.
Gaming PCs are a poor comparison for your use-cases because they focus
on maximum GPU power and peak single-thread performance, whereas you
need little GPU and compilation often benefits most from multi-threaded
throughput. Any modern mainstream CPU should handle multimedia with ease
using hardware acceleration; even smart phones can do this without
breaking a sweat.
My PSU is a mere 120 W, and I am a game developer, albeit targetting low
poly games that will run on mobile. My 2017 build is still going strong.
I am typing on it right now:
- Streacom FC8WS Alpha fanless case
- Streacom Nano120 fanless PSU with external AC/DC adapter
- Asus H110I-Plus Mini-ITX motherboard
- Intel i7-7700 65W CPU (Kaby Lake, HD 630 iGPU)
- Corsair Value Select 2x8GB DDR4-2133 RAM
- Samsung 850 Evo 250GB 2.5" SATA SSD
- PCI-E WiFi card
- Logitech MK270R wireless keyboard/mouse combo
- Single monitor via HDMI
- Headphones via analogue 3.5mm jack
- External SSD via USB 3
Going fanless saves power. The aluminium case is expensive. Streacom
cases are high-quality aluminium cases designed for HTPC applications.
Heat pipe installation makes this the fiddliest build ever, equal with
its FC8 Evo predecessor, but the cooling design works very well. The
latest revision has more passive ventilation. This build is silent
except for a slight buzz heard only during mprime torture testing with
AVX enabled.
I configured thermald to cap CPU temperature to 80C because paranoia.
The only time I ever experienced stability problems was after an
ill-advised RAM overclocking. Now I just Leave Well Enough Alone. This
machine has compiled and tested massive amounts of Java (former
business) and native code including many Linux kernels (git bisect).
The HD 630 iGPU has met all my low poly needs, including development and
testing in Godot, and modelling in Blender. The only time I ever
experienced frame-rate drops testing a 3D game was when I forgot I had
an eight-thread compilation job running on another workspace!
Kind regards,
--
Ash Joubert <ash@transient.nz>
Director
Transient Software Limited <https://transient.nz/>
New Zealand
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