Question Intel Core i5-14500 vs Intel Core i7-13700T

[velocci]

Hi all, I'm looking for a machine that does not use a lot of power because it will be on 24/7. I'm deciding between two models. one model uses the Intel Core i5-14500 that has a TDP rating for 65watts and the other model has a Intel Core i7-13700T that has a TDP rating of 35watts. I got this TDP rating from cpubenchmark.net. so lets say I get the machine with the Intel Core i5-14500 with the TDP rating of 65watts. does that mean this machine will always be using at least 65 watts of power from the wall even if the machine isn't doing much?
thanks

 

[jeremyj_83]

Hi all, I'm looking for a machine that does not use a lot of power because it will be on 24/7. I'm deciding between two models. one model uses the Intel Core i5-14500 that has a TDP rating for 65watts and the other model has a Intel Core i7-13700T that has a TDP rating of 35watts. I got this TDP rating from cpubenchmark.net. so lets say I get the machine with the Intel Core i5-14500 with the TDP rating of 65watts. does that mean this machine will always be using at least 65 watts of power from the wall even if the machine isn't doing much?
thanks

Your computer will use power based on how active it is. If your computer had a dedicated GPU it will have a higher idle power draw than one without a dedicated GPU, however, at idle your entire system could easily have a 20W draw. As soon as you start putting a load on the system the power draw will go up. For Intel a 65W TDP means that if all cores are active at base frequency then it will draw 65W. However, there is also the turbo TDP which is the maximum power it will draw for shorter amounts of time. For the 14500 the turbo TDP is 154W and the 13700T is 106W. Overall the lower the TDP the more likely it is that the power draw will be lower, however, that also means sustained performance (for the same model 14500 vs 14500T for example) will be lower with the CPU that has a lower TDP.

What type of work will this be doing that it will be on 24/7?

 

[velocci]

Your computer will use power based on how active it is. If your computer had a dedicated GPU it will have a higher idle power draw than one without a dedicated GPU, however, at idle your entire system could easily have a 20W draw. As soon as you start putting a load on the system the power draw will go up. For Intel a 65W TDP means that if all cores are active at base frequency then it will draw 65W. However, there is also the turbo TDP which is the maximum power it will draw for shorter amounts of time. For the 14500 the turbo TDP is 154W and the 13700T is 106W. Overall the lower the TDP the more likely it is that the power draw will be lower, however, that also means sustained performance (for the same model 14500 vs 14500T for example) will be lower with the CPU that has a lower TDP.

What type of work will this be doing that it will be on 24/7?

I will use this machine for torrenting and as a plex server (not using transcoding)

 

[jeremyj_83]

I will use this machine for torrenting and as a plex server (not using transcoding)

Torrenting can have high sustained CPU workloads especially with web seeds. In that case the 35W TDP CPU will most likely use less power overall than the 65W TDP CPU.

 

[velocci]

Torrenting can have high sustained CPU workloads especially with web seeds. In that case the 35W TDP CPU will most likely use less power overall than the 65W TDP CPU.

what are web seeds? and my upload speed from my ISP is only 50Mbps. I'm lucky if I get 500Kbps and most of the time its much lower than that. can low upload speeds like that still cause high cpu workloads?

 

[jeremyj_83]

Here are a couple links on what web seeding is.

Free Open-Source Software (FOSS) Torrents

Learn how torrents with web seeds help the user to download faster.

fosstorrents.com

https://support.tixati.com/webseed

High CPU usage can result in reduced upload speeds (processing the data to be uploaded is slower than the internet connection so it can only upload at a lower speed). A low upload speed won't cause high CPU usage. In fact it would lower the CPU usage as the upload isn't capable of sustaining higher transmission rates so the CPU won't send it out as fast.

 

[velocci]

I'm deciding between the Lenovo P3 or the Lenovo M70q. the P3 is faster and cheaper, but possibly uses more power due to the i5-14500 cpu. the P3 also comes with a faster GPU which will not really be used. either way, the computer will sit in a closet and just be seeding (about 200Kbps on avg) and we only use plex to watch content about an average of 2 hours per day. when we do watch plex contact, its from an nvidia shield, not this computer. the computer will only be used as the server. only the power and ethernet cable will be plugged into it. no monitors will be plugged in. I would access the machine remotely from another machine. so which one of these machines would you get?

 

[artk2219]

I'm deciding between the Lenovo P3 or the Lenovo M70q. the P3 is faster and cheaper, but possibly uses more power due to the i5-14500 cpu. the P3 also comes with a faster GPU which will not really be used. either way, the computer will sit in a closet and just be seeding and we only use plex to watch content about an average of 2 hours per day. when we do watch plex contact, its from an nvidia shield, not this computer. the computer will only be used as the server. only the power and ethernet cable will be plugged into it. no monitors will be plugged in. I would access the machine remotely from another machine. so which one of these machines would you get?

Buy the P3, pop out the GPU if you don't need it, and sell it to recoup some of the cost. Realistically the power difference between the two will be negligible. They will both just sit their idling the vast majority of the time, and even when you're streaming you will barely be putting a load on the system.

 

[jeremyj_83]

I'm deciding between the Lenovo P3 or the Lenovo M70q. the P3 is faster and cheaper, but possibly uses more power due to the i5-14500 cpu. the P3 also comes with a faster GPU which will not really be used. either way, the computer will sit in a closet and just be seeding and we only use plex to watch content about an average of 2 hours per day. when we do watch plex contact, its from an nvidia shield, not this computer. the computer will only be used as the server. only the power and ethernet cable will be plugged into it. no monitors will be plugged in. I would access the machine remotely from another machine. so which one of these machines would you get?

Here is some information to think about in terms of total costs.

The average price of electricity in the USA is 16.67 center/kWh. If both CPUs are running at the difference of their TDPs (30W) the entire time (14500 at 64W and 13700T at 35W) that is 0.81 kWh/day of extra electricity. For an entire year that comes out to less than $5 of extra electricity. To cover the difference in cost you would have to run them for more than 50 years to break even.

The most expensive price of electricity in the USA is Hawaii at 42.67 cents/kWh. At that price you would need to run for more than 20 years to break even.

Switching to constant Turbo Power the difference is 48W. That puts breaking even with average electricity price at more than 30 years and at Hawaii prices at more than 10 years.

Based on all this data I would just get the P3. The RAM, SSD, and GPU (at least what you linked to Best Buy) are all the same so nothing else will affect things.

 

[velocci]

Buy the P3, pop out the GPU if you don't need it, and sell it to recoup some of the cost. Realistically the power difference between the two will be negligible. They will both just sit their idling the vast majority of the time, and even when you're streaming you will barely be putting a load on the system.

I doubt I can take out the GPU. this is a mini PC. plus I have to make sure this PC comes with Windows 11. the site doesn't say what OS it comes with, if any.

 

[velocci]

I doubt I can take out the GPU. this is a mini PC. plus I have to make sure this PC comes with Windows 11. the site doesn't say what OS it comes with, if any.

upon doing some research, it might be possible to remove that GPU. how much do you think it would be worth if I were to sell it?

 

[velocci]

its done. I ordered the Lenovo P3. thanks all for your help.