In this test, I used each machine over many days performing a variety of general desktop tasks including, but not limited, to web surfing, email, compiling source code, watching video, and listening to music.
The chart shows the power consumption of each machine. The figures are the power draw for the machine, not just the CPU.
Again an awesome outcome for the AIBOX. It uses less power than any of the machines yet its performance exceeds most of the machines (with the obvious exception of the i7-1360P found in the Intel NUC 13 Pro).
Notes about the chart:
- The tasks do not include any activities that are GPU intensive such as gaming, running locally-hosted AI apps, video recording / live streaming etc.
- While the tests access software that uses the GPU (such as Wayland), the GPU power consumption is minimal.
- All the machine use onboard graphics.
- None of the machines have power management functionality built into the BIOS.
- The DreamQuest and Intel Mini PCs are using the Balanced CPU governor. The Firefly AIBOX-3588S, Orange Pi 5 Max, Orange Pi RV2, Raspberry Pi 5, and Banana Pi BPI-F3 are using their default settings with no overclocking/underclocking.
- WiFi and Bluetooth are enabled on all machines with the exception of the Orange Pi R2S and the Firefly AIBOX-3588S which don’t have either.
- The Firefly AIBOX-3588S is running Debian 12 (Bookworm), the Orange Pi 5 Max is running Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish), while the RV2 is running Ubuntu 24.04.2 (Noble Numbat). The Orange Pi R2S is running Ubuntu Server 24.04. The Pi 5 is running the Raspberry Pi OS (which is based on Debian 12). The Banana Pi BPI-F3 is running Bianbu OS 24.04. The other machines are running Ubuntu 25.04.
- The Orange Pi R2S is not shown in the chart above as it does not have onboard video.
Next page: Page 3 – Power Consumption With CPU Stressed
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 / Specifications
All articles in the series:
| Firefly AIBOX-3588S | |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Introduction to the series and interrogation of the AIBOX-3588S |
| Benchmarks | Benchmarking the AIBOX-3588S Embedded Fanless PC |
| Power | Comparing the AIBOX-3588S power consumption with other SBCs and Mini PCs |