PC power consumption matters in the UK, particularly because electricity costs remain high once the unit rate and standing charge are taken into account.
Here’s the running cost for each machine under light desktop usage.
To calculate the cost per year I assume each machine is used 8 hours a day under light usage. A kWh costs £0.2467 (the current price cap from April 2026 in the UK).
| Computer | Wh | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Mini PC DreamQuest Intel N100 CPU | 12.9 | £9.29 |
| Mini PC BOSGAME M4 Plus AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS | 15.4 | £11.09 |
| Mini PC BOSGAME M6 HX370 AI PC | 17.4 | £12.53 |
| Mini PC Intel NUC 13 Pro i7-1360P CPU | 17.7 | £12.75 |
| Mini PC Minisforum UM890 Pro AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | 17.9 | £12.89 |
| Mini PC ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-255H | 25.1 | £18.08 |
| Mini PC BOSGAME M7 Core Ultra 9 285H | 27.2 | £19.59 |
| Desktop PC Intel i5-10400 CPU | 32.1 | £23.12 |
| Desktop PC Intel i5-12400 CPU (with dedicated graphics card) | 64.5 | £46.46 |
- The annual cost is the electricity cost of the computer only. To calculate the overall running costs, you’ll need to factor in peripherals such as monitors, speakers, and external devices.
- The Balanced CPU governor is used.
The next table shows the annual electricity cost with each machine running headless, idle, and permanently on. This information may be useful if you’re thinking of using the machine as a NAS server and want a baseline running cost. Again, I’m pricing a kWh at £0.2467, the average electricity unit rate under the April-June 2026 UK price cap.
| Computer | Wh | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Mini PC BOSGAME M4 Plus AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS | 5.8 | £12.53 |
| Mini PC DreamQuest N100 CPU | 6.5 | £14.05 |
| Mini PC BOSGAME M6 HX370 AI PC | 7.5 | £16.21 |
| Mini PC Minisforum UM890 Pro AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | 7.7 | £16.64 |
| Mini PC ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-255H | 9.1 | £19.67 |
| Mini PC BOSGAME M7 Core Ultra 9 285H | 11.6 | £25.07 |
| Mini PC Intel NUC 13 Pro i7-1360P CPU | 12.7 | £27.44 |
| Desktop PC Intel i5-10400 CPU | 14.1 | £30.47 |
| Desktop PC Intel i5-12400 CPU (with dedicated graphics card) | 37.3 | £80.61 |
Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Power Consumption With System Idle
Page 2 – Power Consumption With Light Usage
Page 3 – Power Consumption With CPU Stressed
Page 4 – Electricity Costs
Complete list of articles in this series:
| Bosgame M7 Core Ultra 9 285H Mini PC | |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Introduction to the series and interrogation of the machine |
| Benchmarks | Benchmarking the Bosgame M7 Core Ultra 9 285H Mini PC |
| Power | Testing and comparing the power consumption |
| More articles will be published this week | |