Power Consumption With Light Usage
In this test, I used each machine over many days while performing a variety of general desktop tasks including, but not limited to, web browsing, email, compiling source code, watching video, listening to music, and running virtual machines.
The chart shows total system power consumption, not just CPU power draw.
The PELADN WO4 draws 25.8W under light load. That places it just behind the Core Ultra 7 255H system and slightly ahead of the Core Ultra 9 285H, so it’s broadly competitive with some much newer Intel H-class machines.
The result is respectable given that the WO4 uses AMD’s Ryzen 5 5600H, a 2021 Zen 3 processor with a 45W default TDP. It can’t match the efficiency of newer AMD mobile platforms, with the Ryzen 9 7940HS and Ryzen 9 8945HS systems drawing considerably less power under the same mixed workload. The latest Core Ultra 7 356H Panther Lake system is also well ahead, highlighting the efficiency gains offered by newer architectures and platforms.
This chart also shows that TDP is a poor guide to light-load power consumption. The WO4’s 45W processor doesn’t automatically make it inefficient, but its older architecture, DDR4-era platform, firmware, and overall system design leave it trailing the best modern mini PCs. Even so, 25.8W is an acceptable figure for a budget mini PC based on a 2021 Ryzen 5 processor, especially when the workload includes more demanding tasks such as compiling and running virtual machines.
Notes about the chart:
- The tasks do not include GPU-intensive activities such as gaming, running locally hosted AI apps, video recording, or live streaming.
- While the tests use software that accesses the GPU, such as Wayland, GPU power consumption is minimal, with the exception of the i5-12400F, as that machine’s dedicated graphics card draws significantly more at idle.
- Two screens are used on each machine.
- The i5-12400F machine hosts a dedicated graphics card, whereas the other machines all use onboard graphics. The 285HX machine has a network card that draws around 10W when idle.
- The Balanced CPU governor is used.
- The machines are running Ubuntu.
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
Complete list of articles in this series:
| PELADN WO4 5600H Mini PC | |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Introduction to the series and interrogation of the machine |
| Benchmarks | Benchmarking the PELADN WO4 5600H Mini PC |
| Power | Testing and comparing the power consumption |
| More articles will be published next week | |