Given the lack of RAM with my ROCK 4D model, I’m unable to test light desktop usage. 2GB of RAM running X and KDE Plasma is insufficient for my test routine.
The table below shows the annual electricity cost with each machine headless running at idle and permanently on. This information may be useful if you are thinking of using the machine say as a NAS server and want a baseline running cost. I’m pricing a kWh at £0.2635 (the current price cap from October 2025 in the UK).
| Computer | Wh | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Firefly AIBOX-3588S | 1.3 | £3.00 |
| Orange Pi 5 Max | 2.4 | £5.54 |
| Orange Pi RV2 | 2.5 | £5.77 |
| Radxa ROCK 4D | 2.7 | £6.23 |
| Orange Pi R2S | 2.8 | £6.46 |
| Raspberry Pi 5 | 3.5 | £8.08 |
| Radxa ROCK 5T | 3.9 | £9.00 |
| Banana Pi BPI-F3 | 4.3 | £9.93 |
| Mini PC DreamQuest N100 CPU | 6.5 | £15.00 |
| Minisforum AI X1 Pro AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 | 6.9 | £15.93 |
| Mini PC DreamQuest N95 CPU | 7.8 | £18.00 |
| Mini PC ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-255H | 9.1 | £21.00 |
| Mini PC Intel NUC 13 Pro i7-1360P CPU | 12.7 | £29.52 |
Specifications
To look at the specifications of the machines featured here, please refer to each series which are listed in the hardware section here.
Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Power Consumption With System Idle
Page 2 – Power Consumption With CPU Stressed
Page 3 – Electricity Costs / Specifications
Complete list of articles in this series:
| Radxa ROCK 4D | |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Introduction to the series and interrogation of the ROCK 4D |
| Benchmarks | Benchmarking the ROCK 4D |
| Power | I compare the ROCK 4D's power consumption to other machines |
| Radxa OS | A Debian-based Linux distribution with KDE Plasma |