MSI H97M ECO and G3250T CPU server build

[djon]

Just wanted to post my not-so-great power consumptions for my new server build:

MSI H97M ECO motherboard
2x4 GB GSKILL Sniper 1.25V RAM
Intel G3250T CPU
SSD: OCZ Vortex 4 SSD with Windows 7 64 bit
2 TB WD Green set to sleep after 5 minutes of inactivity
WD MyBook Essential 3 TB connected via USB3 and set to sleep after 10 minutes
Technisat TV Card installed in the PCI port
Antec 1380 enclosure with 80+ PSU

No screen, keyboard or mouse connected. and everything but the PCI and LAN port disabled on the motherboard.
All power saving features like Tiny Lake, C1E and so on are enabled.

When idling and all disks sleeping, it runs at 27,6W.

I tried removing all disks except the SSD and also disabled the PCI card, but could only get it down to around 24W.

I am quite disappointed as I was expecting something in the range of 15W like this site is mentioning: http://www.kitguru.net/components/mothe ... -computex/

That setup even includes an i7 CPU and my RAM uses even less voltage, so how they got those results baffles me. Only hope to reduce power more is by getting a new PSU but I find it unlikely that there will be 10W gained by doing so.

[Abula]

What power management are you running? is the CPU downclocking to 800mhz? Are you letting it sit without doing anything for a while, sometimes takes a little to stablize.

Your idle seems high, ECO or no eco, , with i3 2100T i can idle close to 11-13W. I also tested with my MSI H81i and Pentium G3220, and was around 14-16W with all the other hardware the same. Even on my CamMi build, with the MSI H81i and a i7 4770K and single ssds it idled 18-19W, but all builds are being ran on picoPSUs.

Another thing is OZC vertex 4 isnt the best ssd for idle consumptions, from Anantech OCZ Vertex 4 Review (256GB, 512GB)

At ~1.3W today, the Vertex 4 would draw more power than many 5400RPM 2.5-inch hard drives at idle - something to keep in mind if you're planning on putting this thing into a notebook.

Have you check the CPU load on the task manager and resource monitor, when i first got my MSI H81i, it had an issue related to the bios and USB drivers, like it had so much latency that it created the CPU to be always at 5% or so, almost never allowing to reach the 800mhz clocks, this was fixed later on with a bios update, it goes down to 1% goes up to 3%, but usually is around 1%.

[djon]

CPU usage is at 0% when idling. It's been running for a few days and it hasn't gone below 27W. I checked this morning after it had done nothing the entire night.

I tried manually downclocking to 800MHz but that did nothing, so I set it back to Auto.

The power amanagement options I can see are:

C1E support - ON
C-State - Auto
LakeTiny - On

I'm not sure what Long/Short duration power limit are and what they do, so they are at 0 and Auto for Long duration maintained.

Do you reckon a Pico PSU will fit on this motherboard? There is quite a distance between the ATX and P4 plugs: http://atsoftware.de/wp-content/uploads ... G_8805.jpg

[Abula]

Do you reckon a Pico PSU will fit on this motherboard? There is quite a distance between the ATX and P4 plugs: http://atsoftware.de/wp-content/uploads ... G_8805.jpg

The 4pin (aka cpu power) is a little further than on my Asus Maximus VI gene, where i used to ran my picoPSU 150XT, and in that setup the cpu power almost didnt reach, was like tense to reach it, cheking your picture, the 24pin is located further up,



So you might need an 8pin extension, there are lots to chose from, look for an extension that has 4+4 so its easier to just plug since the motherboard only ask for 4pin, here is an example,
Silverstone Tek Sleeved Extension Power Supply Cable with 1 x 8-Pin to EPS12V 8-Pin Connector (PP07-EPS8B)

Or you can also go for a 24pin extension, that would allow you to place the picoPSU closer to the 8pin, its a matter of preference and how is your setup, i would prefer the 8pin as with the 24pin extension the picoPSU would end up on air or in the case, so you gotta be careful it doesnt touch something and short circuits.

I tried manually downclocking to 800MHz but that did nothing, so I set it back to Auto.

I have all of my setups in auto, but its a matter if its downclocking or not on its own. Download CoreTemp and run it, once you open it, let the computer sit for 5min, check if the clock of each core are going to 800mhz or not. If not, check your powermanagement setting under windows, see if you have balance that allows the downclocking, the peformance mode to IIRC doesnt allow it.

[djon]

Ok I tried Real Temp now, enabled logging and ran it for 30 minutes.

Clock.jpg

At no time did I see the Core speed change from 2799.67 in the log. Should I have seen the core speed written as 800 in the log it it actually downclocked or does it only write what the standard core speed is?

I have chosen "power saver" as my power plan in Windows. I also tried balanced. Under Advanced Setings -> Processor power management I can only choose System cooling policy, which is set to passive.

How do I make this CPU downclock properly?

[Abula]

How do I make this CPU downclock properly?

I dont do anything just have powermanagement to balance, here is a screenshot of my 4790K that its lowering its clocks to 800mhz when on idle, it does fluctuate if you open something, its just when its on idle or none demanding setting.

[djon]

Well, according to Core Temp, my CPU never downclocks then.

I tried manually seting it to 800 MHz, but it didn't lower the power consumption. However the CPU was running at 70% load the entire time and everything was horribly slow even after letting it idle for 20 minutes.
I then changed back to the default settings in the MSI Extreme Tuning Utility, but it was now fixed at 800 MHz and never rose, so i had to restore the BIOS back to default.
One thing I did notice was that when I ran at 800 MHz, I could now set the Minimum/Maximum processor state under Power options. As soon as I went back to default CPU settings, the settings were gone again.

[djon]

Upgraded my BIOS and now the CPU downclocks. It's now running at 25W idle. Because of the TV tuner card, I had to set C-state level from C6 to Auto, as all recordings would otherwise be pixelated. Before when it was set to C6, I was it idling at 22-23W. I'm not quite sure what C-state the CPU now enters though...
Still a long way to go to 15W...

[Abula]

Still a long way to go to 15W...

Well now that you know its downclocking i think its more the PSU, at low loads in my experience standard PSU are not that efficient, weather you can drop 10W off going into a picoPSU is hard to to say, and personally i havent runned a standard psu my minimi or cammi builds to tell you how much i gained, but in my experience the psu in low load, specially on bronze were not that good, seems newer PSU are not that bad, but old ones seem to, even going from a 150XT +150W brick to 90XLP + Meanwell 60W drop me a couple of watts more in idle, either way i did this more out of curiosity and because pcs for me are a hobby, money wise its very hard to get get back what you invest on this.

[djon]

Do you know if I can use one of the 20 pins PICO-PSUs on my 24 pin ATX motherboard? Some says it's fine, others are more cautious when asked. I would like a smaller PICO than the 150W-ATX as that's way overkill and will give me a higher power consumption as you also say.

[Abula]

Do you know if I can use one of the 20 pins PICO-PSUs on my 24 pin ATX motherboard? Some says it's fine, others are more cautious when asked. I would like a smaller PICO than the 150W-ATX as that's way overkill and will give me a higher power consumption as you also say.

I run the XLP90 on my minimi build and its 20pin, i also ran a second 90XLP on a fan testing pc, and its a 24pin and the pico is 20pin, also in here its 8pin cpu power and the pico psu is 4pin, and ran fine. As long as you dont need much voltage i think its just extra lines for a high pull.

[bastiaan]

I am quite disappointed as I was expecting something in the range of 15W like this site is mentioning: http://www.kitguru.net/components/mothe ... -computex/

Well, that was a bit misleading. The product changed a lot between the demo and the release. On its website, MSI is only claiming 17W for this board with all power saving functions enabled. And you can be sure that they would have used something like a PicoPSU and the highest efficiency power brick they could lay their hands on.

Still, 17W (or even 15W) cannot be considered remarkable in this day and age.

[xan_user]

you have a satellite card, right?
satellite dish LNB's generally need 13v or 19v power from the sat line.

[djon]

you have a satellite card, right?
satellite dish LNB's generally need 13v or 19v power from the sat line.

We ll it's a cable DVB-C card. As far as I can tell it uses around 2 watts, but since the mobo can't use the most aggressive C level state that's a couple of watts as well. I guess the power requirements of the tuner card is the reason why C state can't be set to C6.

[tim9876]

Hi,

Any progress on lowering your power consumption ?

I have the same board with intel celeron cpu , 1 memory module 4 gb, 1usb drive ( running freenas 9.3) , 2 data disk ( wd red 2TB) , B-quiet Pure Power L8 300Watt (known to be good on low power )

The system idles at 37watt

upgraded bios to latest, and changed some bios settings ...

[djon]

I idle at 24,7W so no, I'm not satisfied and regret not going the NUC way with an extra external disk. Currently I'm considering getting a new i5 CPU and making a new gamer PC from the server parts and getting the NUC for a server as well as a HDHomerun for recording. It's a lot of money though, so I'm still on the fence.

[tim9876]

i opened a complaint on MSI customer service portal ... i suggest you do the same ...