How many Watts is NUC 12 Pro i7 & i5 Idle consumption

[paul456]

My Haswell NUC D54250WYK got favourable indepth reviews close to launch by serious websites anandtech, legitreviews, hexus. Anandtech using 2x4GB RAM, 180GB SSD did extensive consumption measurements from the wall: idle = 6.84 Watts. (Prime95 27 Watts). I measured 7.1 Watts on mine, which had double the RAM and a 250GB Sandisk compared to the 180GB in Anandtech's test (same 7260 WiFi). It still runs all my usual Office type progams fine.

I want to buy a new 4x4" NUC with latest CPU with hopefully lower idle power yet fast 96EU iGPU. I also want TB4 port, as at some later point, I may very occasionally want to attach a eGPU to play MSFS20, as I gather even 96EU Xe not strong enough.

I assumed for lowest idle power a CPU comparable to the D54250WYK could be the 15W TDP i7-1265U but it appears you have not made any NUC 12 using 'U' series. Looking at your NUC 12 Pro series, I am wondering whether to choose the NUC12WSHi7 (or i5). However, I cannot find a measure of the idle power anywhere, no reviews ! To get some clue I looked at recent reviews of laptops using both 'U' and 'P' series. One reviewer said idle power of 'P' CPUs significantly higher than laptops with 'U' CPUs.
1) Is this true, and why ?

I then read it is now possible to adjust TDP in the NUC BIOS which leads me to ask :
2) what is the usual NUC12WSHi7 idle power with e.g. 2x8GB DDR4-3200 and a typical 1TB NVMe ?
3) if you reduce the CPU TDP to 15W what would NUC12WSHi7 idle power now be ?

I see the similarly small 4x4 12 Pro is saddled with an enormous 120W PSU I rather not have.
So 4) can the 12 Pro with TDP turned down, run from the 65W FSP PSU that came with the D54250WYK ?

Thank you.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello paul456

Thank you for posting on the Intel️® communities.  

Regarding your question #1, it is true. As an example, I used a comparison between the i7-1260P and the i7-1260U, you can see that based on their specifications the Processor Base Power is 28 W and 9 W respectively. Based on the suffix for the Intel® Core™ Processor Suffixes, the letter U represents the mobile power-efficient CPUs.

About your question #3, we recommend using our products at stock configurations with the default BIOS settings. Changing these parameters may affect the performance and stability of the unit.

To answer your other questions we will proceed to check the issue internally and post back soon with more details. 

Best regards, 

Jean O.  

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jean_Intel]

Hello paul456,

Thanks for waiting for a response.

Regarding your other questions, unfortunately, we don't have any information about actual power consumption. It depends on the Memory the SSD and the workload so too many possible scenarios for Intel to provide this information.

Best regards, 

Jean O.  

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jean_Intel]

Hello paul456,

I hope you are doing fine.

Were you able to check the previous post?

Let us know if you still need assistance.

Best regards, 

Jean O.  

Intel Customer Support Technician

[paul456]

Sorry for replying so late. It should have been obvious I put a lot of thought into my 4 questions, first seeking a 12 Gen natural successor (i7-1254U) to my 15W TDP NUC over the summer only to conclude Intel had abandoned the efficient 12 Gen 'U' series for NUC, so with no indepth reviews of the NUC 12 Pro by 2 months after launch, I put my 4 questions to Intel. Disappointed at the meagre reply I was at a loss how to ask again for even basic data, which being your product, you should have,

You state 'it depends on the memory, SSD, workload...'. Obviously. If you read my question carefully, that is why I suggested a typical 2x8GB DDR-3200 and 1TB NVMe. I can't believe Intel didn't do extensive testing of the Intel 12 Pro before and record the results. Power consumption under many conditions will almost certainly be a key part of those tests.

All I asked for is power consumption when IDLE, i.e no load. What could be simpler ? You must already have the results recorded. The typical installed memory will be between 8 to 32GB. I suggested 16GB memory, 1TB SSD, but a result for a different testbed is still useful, just say what memory & SSD fitted. OS I would use is Win 12 Pro 64, but just say what OS used in the test.

An alternative to looking up your lab results is to just connect a i7-1260P NUC 12 Pro to the wall via commonly available power monitor, just switch it on, no need to run any program, just note the Watts after its completed the boot.

That is what review site notebookcheck.net do. When they reviewed your i7-1260P in the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 on 6 May 2022 (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Yoga-9i-14-2022-Laptop-High-End-Convertible-with-4K-OLED-in-Review.617690.0.html)with screen on minimum brightness, consumption is 7.1W. As the NUC 12 Pro has no screen, I would expect Idle Power to be less.

I feel your excuse too many variables to state Idle Power is untrue, a copout. Can you not make an effort and measure it ? Without this data and surprisingly after 2 months no indepth reviews of NUC 12 Pro from good review sites like Anandteck etc, I am put off from purchasing.

Re. your earlier reply altering PL1/2 not advised, I merely read Intel now provides customers adjustment of PL1(TDP) and PL2 levels in the NUC BIOS. I assumed it is a usable feature so did not seek further information on the feature. Can you link me to information on why its not advised ? In the absence of a 15W 'U' series NUC family, it should be obvious I was thinking a solution to the claimed high idle power of the 'P' series, is to dial the TDP down to that of a i7-1265U, ie. 15W, and hopefully power it from the 65W FSP PSU that came with my D54250WYK. BTW you compared the spec of the i7-1265P to a class below with a 9W TDP I assumed only good enough for netbooks. Is there a NUC with i7-1260U ?

My 9 year old Haswell NUC uses low power memory, minimising temperature rise. Alder Lake supports LPDDR4x-4267 and LPDDR5-5200. If it is not too technical a question, why does the NUC 12 Pro not allow use of this faster more energy efficient memory ?

[Jean_Intel]

Hello paul456,

I hope you are doing fine.

I have not heard back from you. So I will close this thread. If you need any additional information, submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards.

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician.