i3 vs i5 for home server
i3 vs i5 for home server
Building a new home server setup is on my agenda. It will host Jellyfin, Home Assistant, and some smaller services like AdBlock Server. Given that Jellyfin is handling video transcoding on a recent Intel CPU, it’s perfect for this use case. My main worry is power consumption. I’m curious if an i5 with e-cores will use less power than an i3 with only p-cores. Although the base and turbo power usage are higher, if most of the time it runs on the e-cores, would that lead to a noticeable drop in energy use compared to the i3?
the end-of-month power bill will stay close to the expected range, which means evaluating power costs also needs checking how quickly the investment in savings pays back. in simple terms, this doesn’t save you money in the long run—it won’t within a reasonable period.
For virtualizing those individual tasks, sticking with the i5 12400 seems sensible. It uses 6-core/12-thread chips without E-cores, whereas moving up to the i5 13400 or 13500 would provide 4 to 8 E-cores. I doubt virtualization can fully manage its uneven core layout, much like my doubts about AMD's 3D v-cache optimizer driver—performance drops with certain games even when using the right software, which isn't surprising unless the driver is specifically tuned for it.