Or possibly even 4P...

Biggest problem with the TV Stick would be the cooling. I own a minix neo x7 that was also designed as a TV android device with a quad core cpu (2GB Ram and 8GB Flash). It has a passive cooler mounted to the cpu but no air circulation in its box. The cooler touches the housing but cooling is ineffective that means instead of running at 1,6GHz it throttels down to 1,0GHz.

On the other hand I bougt two hardkernel odroid u3 with quad core cpu running on 1,7GHz. You can run them either from microSD-Card or from eMMC-Card. I placed an old case fan on top of the passive cooler that prevents from throttling down. They run WCT 24/7 with full load.

Type		Runtime			Points			# Result
U3-mSD     0:091:21:52:06 		135,126 		325
U3-eMMC    0:001:13:31:44 		2,660	 		12
Minix-X7   1:130:14:09:08 		354,449 		1,040

I've posted the current values from my 3 devices. We should focus on the first and the third entry because the second one is to new and calculating an average makes no sense at the moment.

Let us have a look on the Minix-X7 first (@1.0GHz OS on internal Flash Memory):
The runtime in hrs (I round the minutes and seconds) is 11,894 hrs. It returns 1,040 results. That means average runtime per result is 11.4 hrs.
In comparison the U3-mSD (@1.7GHz OS on microSD-Card):
Total runtime in hrs is 2,206 hrs. It returns 325 results. Average runtime per result is 6.8 hrs.

The factor between 1.0GHz and 1.7GHz is 1.7. The factor between the average runtimes is very close to 1.7

I suppose that the runtime of the U3-eMMC (@1.7GHz OS on eMMC-Card) might be shorter compared to the U3-mSD because the eMMC is a much faster storage than the mSD.

But you're right with your suggestion: If the cooling of the minix would be better the performance should also increase.
A few month ago I opened the case of the minix and placed a fan on the passive cooling mount with no difference in throttling behaviour. Instead of the fan I've tried a thermal pack with -23°C on top of the cooler. No difference.
So cooling this device is not as easy as it looks like and I'm running it as it is.

I think you would observe the same behaviour with the TV-Stick you've linked in your post as well. To get the maximum out of it you need some cooling anyhow.

Here we go:
i7-3930k (@3.5GHz 64GB RAM Win7 64-bit from SSD, WCG on normal 4TB HDD for 24/7 usage)

Runtime 		Points 			# Result
3:349:14:38:17 		6,338,077 		10,853

Runtime so far: 34,671 hrs
Results: 10,854
average runtime per result 3,2 hrs

But I think this is not comparable because 2 years of runtime was CEP2 (runtime per wu up to 18 hrs).
Another year of runtime was spent for MCM.
The rest is a mixture of SNTS and FAAH (vina & docking)

Perhaps another comparison makes more sense: Points per hour of runtime:
i7: ~183 pts/h
minix: ~30 pts/h
u3-mSD: ~61 pts/h
(u3-eMMC: ~142 pts/h)
The last result is based on 0:002:10:18:14 4,898 16
As mentioned in my post before the runtime so far is to short and not enough results and points measured right now.
Update from today:
(u3-eMMC: ~84 pts/h)
result is based on 0:005:22:21:12 11,966 30
End of Update
Update 2:
(u3-eMMC: ~90 pts/h)
based: 0:008:19:58:03 19,284 40
End Update 2:



If we compare the i7 (@3.5GHz) against u3-mSD (@1.7GHz) it's 183 pts/h to 61 pts/h.

Some thoughts about cost efficiency: for the i7 System (i7-3930k, 2 256GB SSD, 64 GB RAM, 4 TB HDD, Radeon 7850, BluRay-Burner, case, mainboar, psu) I had to pay >$3,150. The u3 with 8GB eMMC and shipment was $120.
Running the i7 24/7 cost me $75 (worth 216KWh) every month for energy (in germany each KWh is $0.35).
The three android devices consume 21,6KWh/Month (rounded to 10W/Device) and cost $7.60.

Shutting down my i7 for three month is worth three new u3 (roughly) I can buy.


I haven't investigated any further. Perhaps the passive cooler wasn't mounted correctly by the manufactorer or anything else is weird.

I'm not sure if the cooler is removable and I could replace it by something better. In fact that this device was the most expensive (~$160) I take it as it is. ~5W power consumption isn't bad at all for it's output.

The u3 power consumption is ~8W.

You're welcome

That is not bad indeed considering the power consumption. In other news, we should expect 64bit ARM processors in phones by X-mas. No details on 64bit Android OS yet.

http://www.cnet.com/news/move-to-64-bit-android-phones-accelerating-says-arm/