[Comparison] Performance of different Computers

Intro

If you just got a miniPC.

This post is for you.

Benchmarks

How good is your PC?

Do we really need something bigger, faster, newer?

Lets see what we have:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JAlcocerT/Linux/main/Z_Linux_Installations_101/Benchmark101.sh
chmod +x Benchmark101.sh & ./Benchmark101.sh

CPU Benchmarks

The first CPU at home was an Intel P3, then an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ came (both 1 core!)

And look at them now…

Any miniPC or SBC, will bring us ~4C/4T CPU:

sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 --num-threads=4 run #4 cores
7z b -mmt4

• x300 7960 events/s, total 79.6k events
• x300 7zip 6.2k/24.7k

And a max power from the wall seen of 61W with the Tapo P110

For now, the x300 with the 5600G is the most powerful CPU I ever had (a little bit more than the x13 and )

• cpx11 (Hetzner amd epyc x86): 12.3k events and 4.5/9k

#sudo apt install htop
#sudo auto-cpufreq --install #https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub io.missioncenter.MissionCenter

Memory Benchmarks

sudo apt install sysbench
sysbench memory --memory-oper=read run

#sysbench memory run
#sysbench memory --memory-oper=write run

• The x13 with 16GB RAM , got 8164 Mib/sec
• The x300 got 8099Mib/sec
• The Lenovo ThinkBook with 24GB got 6510 MiB/s
• A VPS, the cpx11 hetzner: ~5245Mib/sec
• The Firebat miniPC got me 4077Mib/sec
• And the Pi 4 4GB ~175MiB/sec (x86)

FireBat AK2 Plus

Less than 1L mini PC with decent 4C/4T - The Review

BMax B4 MiniPC Review

BMax vs Pi vs Cloud Comparison

GPU Benchmark

For other tasks, having a decent GPU is key, for example if you want to play a lot of media.

Forget about 4k playback with the Pi 4’s.

Raspberry Pi and IoT 101

Single Board Computers can do many other things!

Raspberry Pi and IoT 101

ARM64 x Jellyfin Media Server

Get a Pi if you want to do IoT Projects instead, they have great I/O for sensors.

With a x86 MiniPCs/old laptop you are good to go for video tasks.

Also, the Orange Pi 5 and the RockChip can handdle Jellyfin video streaming (with proper configuration).

Internet Benchmark

For a networking benchmark, you will probably need:

ip addr show
hostname -I

#sudo apt-get install net-tools
#ifconfig
#ifconfig eth0 | grep -A 10 "<global>" #check mac, and transfered packages
ifconfig eth0 | grep "inet " | awk '{ print $2 }' #if ETH Connected - SEE THE LOCAL IP
#ifconfig tailscale0 | grep "inet " | awk '{ print $2 }' #for Tailscale

ping -c 4 192.168.0.1 #gateway
ping -c 4 192.168.0.117 #ping the orange pi which is connected to same device
ping 9.9.9.9 #ping quad9 dns server

Ideally, do this with ethernet connection:

sudo apt-get install speedtest-cli
speedtest-cli #speedtest-cli --simple

sudo snap install fast
fast
#npm install --global fast-cli && fast

PCs are great, but even better with proper internet connectivity:

Home 4G Router Review

TPLink MR200

Travel Router Review

GL-MT3000

Check devices in local network:

#sudo apt install nast nmap

sudo nast -m
nmap -sP 192.168.0.1/24 | grep "scan"

Or simply check devices connected to the same router with:

arp -a
#ip neigh

Local Network examples:

• Pi4 4GB arm64 - 192.168.0.155
• Pi4 2GB arm43 - 192.168.0.232
• x13 192.168.0.124

https://lookup.icann.org/en

Test the connectivity between local devices with iperf3: I got ~730Mbits/s

sudo apt update
sudo apt install iperf3
#iperf3 -s #on the server
iperf3 -c 192.168.0.12 #on the other device pointing to your server

#nmcli connection show #check connection status

See with whom are you transferring data and how much:

sudo apt install iftop
sudo iftop

See also Portchecker

Portchecker.io is a free online utility to check the port status of a given hostname or IP address.

Disk Benchmarks

Another very important part that affects the performance, the drives:

sudo lshw -C disk  # You'll need sudo and to filter for disks
sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda  # Example for /dev/sda (detailed info of the disk)
sudo apt install ntfs-3g

Space for Home Lab

df -h | awk '$2 ~ /G/'
#df -h | awk '$2 ~ /G/' | sort -rh -k 2 #sorted
df -h | awk '$5 > "5G" {print $0}' #list the partitions greater than 5GB

#gio trash --empty
#du -sh ~/.local/share/Trash/files

lsblk #list them again
lsblk -f /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb2 #see the format and the UUID of a couple of blocks
df -h /dev/sda1 #you will see if its mounted (it always starts with /dev)
#df -h | awk '$2 ~ /G/'
#df -h | awk '$2 ~ /T/'
df -h | grep '[GT]' #see both

sudo apt install ntfs-3g

sudo nano /etc/fstab #forever
UUID=some-uuid /mnt/data_ntfs_500 ntfs-3g defaults,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0022 0 1
UUID=some-uuid-of-your-drive /mnt/ext4_mount_point_folder ext4 defaults 0 1

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data_ntfs_500
sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 /mnt/data_ntfs_500/ #example with ntfs

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data_ext_2tb
sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/sdb2 /mnt/data_ext_2tb/ #example with ext4

sudo mkdir /mnt/crucial500
lsblk -f
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/crucial500

lsblk #its sdc1
sudo blkid /dev/sdc1 # Replace /dev/sdb1 with your actual partition

#get UUID="f....."
#UUID="your-uuid-here" /mnt/crucial500 ext4 defaults 0 2
##UUID="your-uuid-here" /mnt/crucial500 ext4 defaults 0 2
##UUID="your-uuid-here" /media/jalcocert/Backup2TB ntfs-3g defaults 0 2

sudo nano /etc/fstab #save
sudo mount -a  # Test the /etc/fstab entry
df -h #check its mounted

Format a drive (CT1000MX):

# sudo apt install gparted  # If you don't have it
# gparted
lsblk
#sudo fdisk /dev/sda1 #partition to be created, sda1
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1 #make sure its sda1 the partition you need to erase to EXt4!!

#then mount it
sudo nano /etc/fstab #save
###UUID="8674c809-fb02-4e46-948d-4bac1a219374" /mnt/crucial1000gb ext4 defaults 0 2
sudo mount -a  # Test the /etc/fstab entry
df -h #see it mounted

If you havent done it in a while, make some clean up:

docker builder prune
#docker system prune -a
docker volume prune
docker image prune -a

Consumption

The x13 when in idle is ~10W:

The Pi4 (4GB), is around ~8C above air temperature:

Due to the typical ~4W that consumes (together with the external SSD).

An additional SSD to the Pi accounts for ~1W, as observed when adding an extra drive.

The x300 during ~idle, will do ~14w when using linux, or…>25w when in windows 11:

As per this Tapo Smart Plug

Mr. Doors, pleaze…

Conclusions

Now you have some more information to help you decide what to get.

Balance between: space / consumption / power required…

As of today, I’d say that 99% of the tasks we do with a PC could be done with one of those SFF PCs or with the x13.

If you are spending >500$ into tech, ask yourself first what are you supposed to do with that first.

Powering Local AI: with iGPUs

References

1. https://github.com/geerlingguy/sbc-reviews