I like the idea of these types of system because of the small footprint (I am very space-constrained) and relatively low power (if I don't hammer the GPU!) -- however, it didn't become relevant until I decided I wanted some extra kit to free up resources on my main general-purpose systems :-) at which point my floor-space said "not a chance!"...

So, as an experiment, I have been running an ASUS barebones 5060H system for over a year now (with 32GB Ram and an NVMe SSD for system files and a conventional SSD for bulk data.) It has a very primitive BIOS setup; in particular there are no options for controlling power and the fan control is very basic -- "quiet" versus "normal" :-) Initially I ran it with quiet fan and no other tweaks -- if it was thermal throttling it did so in a very non-intrusive way, though it was running quite hot when the ambient temperature got into the mid-to-high 20s (Centigrade)... If it got bad enough I'd reboot so I could change the fan setting (until I got fed up with the constant extra noise!)

I eventually realised that I can use a sysfs setting to turn off boost mode, so it is now running with a maximum clock of 3.3GHz (instead of being able to boost to 4GHz) -- an unchanged workload now takes just under 15% longer per task (which figures!) Without the slow-down the system ran around 75C with a noisy fan; with no boost it runs around 65C with the fan inaudible most of the time!

As for throughput, I'm very pleased with it! I don't let BOINC have all CPU threads on any of my systems, so my current workload mix has 3 MCM1 tasks and one 3-thread MilkyWay NBody task[1]; MCM1 tasks were taking around 1.00 hours CPU time, and now take around 1.12 to 1.15 hours. (There's no point trying to compare the MW tasks because their run-time can vary considerably...) With boost enabled, it was running MCM1 tasks at about the same pace as my 3700X system (which I discovered lost little or no performance if I cut the TDP by about 10% via the BIOS!) and even with boost off it runs MCM1 somewhat faster than my i7-7700K (capped at 4GHz)

I'm considering a MINIS FORUM 7840HS system (if I can sort out more KVM stuff and so on...) for possible CPDN work along with WCG -- if I do get one I'll report on it later...

Cheers - Al.

[1] WCG is allowed extra tasks for when ARP1/SCC1 work is available, so it's currently undersubscribed; when ARP1 restarts, the MW work will become a fallback project...

BobbyB,

Regarding using the /sys hierarchy to tweak system behaviour on Ryzen hardware, that's in a state of flux at present -- the latest kernels have a lot more available in the way of CPU-control governors and drivers, and what might be good for a 5.15 kernel may not be optimal for [say] a 6.4 kernel...

Given how I did my searching on the topic, a lot of the stuff I found was about managing performance laptops and small "gamer's systems" (i.e. laptop-style CPUs, usually with U, H or HS suffix), and different users had found different combinations worked best for their specific environment and use case...

As for running a system flat out, I'll try to revisit your other thread in a while (I'm a bit busy at present!), and I'll put some observations about the relevant /sys stuff on my 3700X and 5600H in there.

Cheers - Al.

P.S. I am using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS with 5.15 kernels, so I haven't had a chance to experiment with the newer governors and various "pstate" drivers. If I get that newer mini-PC I'll be starting that on 24.04, which will start at kernel 6.8, and I'll have some time for experiments before it goes into regular service :-)

I have three reconditioned mini PCs. Unfortunately, with the first one, I received a non-compatible power supply. Always ran at the slowest speed.
Once I was provided with the correct power adapter, performance improved.
I’ll try and get more specific information for you later.

That is pretty impressive. Can you run MCM on the cpu cores and folding@home on the igpu at the same time?

I'm running my Ryzen 5700G in similar way, boost limited to 4000 MHz, all-core CO at -30 (not possible if I'd let it boost to the default 4.65 GHz). Runs 14x MCM1 (around 1h23m per task) and Einstein's O3 on the (not undervolted) iGPU at around 65W (total, not just CPU) and 75°C (around 65-68°C if the iGPU is idle). I'm not loosing even much performance, with the stock cooler which came with the CPU it would run into thermal limit at around 4200-4300 MHz anyway, at 4 GHz I'm already 20° below that limit.