SER8 power usage during sleep

Nhawk

I had a SER5 Pro (5800H) and during sleep, the mini-PC used 0.9W of power.
I tested SER8 (8745HS) and it’s using 7.4W of power during sleep and 2W when off.
Both SER5 and SER8 use about 12W when on, but idle.

Why does SER8 seem to use so much power when off and sleeping?

support10

Nhawk

Hello there,

Here are some solutions:
①Integrated NPU: The SER8 8845 features an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) for AI functionalities. Although the current software may not fully utilize it, the presence of this component might still draw some power during sleep or when the device is off. It could be in a standby or low-power monitoring mode, waiting for potential AI-related tasks, which contributes to the increased power consumption.
② The cooling system in the SER8 is designed differently to handle the potentially higher heat output of the more powerful components. The fans or other cooling mechanisms run at a lower speed even during sleep or when off to maintain a certain temperature range, which consumes power.

Have a nice day!

Phant0m``

BIOS update may be available to correct. Support is going to want your serial information, take a capture of the bottom of your box and attach it to the post.

Serli

I also have a SER8 with 8745HS CPU and I also measure increased power consumption in standby and when switched off.
This is unacceptable and very expensive, at least here. I think that the implementation of the power saving modes is faulty.

@‘support10’ #p7208

The Ryzen 8745HS doesn’t have an NPU that could consume useless power.

Actively cooling a switched off device makes no sense at all.

Magister

Certainly because S3 (suspend to RAM) does not exist anymore. Now the sleep mode (S0idle) is like cellphone, in fact your PC does not sleep, it tries to shutdown some devices but that’s it, it is always on in fact.

Nhawk

8745HS does NOT have a NPU (8845HS does)
When turning off power, everything should be off, including the fan. Why would you continue to run anything in Power OFF mode? Cooling should no longer be required, since no energy/heat is used/generated.
Here’s the powercfg report (S0 is supported and as a result S3 is NOT). Many laptops now support S0, but if laptops continued to use 7W in standby, they’d be dead in 3-4 hours.
The following sleep states are available on this system:
Standby (S0 Low Power Idle) Network Connected
Hibernate
Fast Startup

The following sleep states are not available on this system:
Standby (S1)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.
This standby state is disabled when S0 low power idle is supported.

Standby (S2)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.
This standby state is disabled when S0 low power idle is supported.

Standby (S3)
The system firmware does not support this standby state.
This standby state is disabled when S0 low power idle is supported.
The current Device Guard configuration has disabled this standby state.

Hybrid Sleep
Standby (S3) is not available.
The hypervisor does not support this standby state.

Noticed some other odd behavior:

In sleep mode, the computer keeps waking up the monitor every few seconds
In power off mode, the USB SSD is still on. How can I turn that off?

support10

@“Nhawk” #6

Hello there,

1、Yes, the SER8 8745 doesnt have NPU/IPU.
2、Here is the tutorial of changing the fan speed of SER8 :https://buildin.ai/lizong/409b8ac3-a7bf-4f97-aa36-1f9e1a9aaceb
3、None of our machines have S3 now, we use modern standby.
4、Do you have other USB devices or apps running on your machine during sleep?
5、Our machine has a wake on lan function, if the machine is completely powered off, this function will not work properly. Therefore, when the machine is connected to the power supply, even if it is turned off, the external interface of the machine will have electricity.
Sorry， it cant turn off.

Have a nice day!

@“Serli” #4

Hello Serli,

It is suggested that you can go to the power option to set the system to balance mode to see if you can save some energy.

Have a nice day!

Nhawk

Yes, they only support modern standby, but modern standby shouldn’t use 7.5W of power when idle power usage is 12W.
I don’t have any other USB devices (besides USB-SSD) and computer is not waking up during sleep…only the monitor
I only have USB-SSD connected to the computer and it stays on when turning PC off. How do I tell it to turn off? I already configured “Turn off USB in S4/S5” in the BIOS

support10

Nhawk

Hello there，

The USB interface still has power even if it is turned off, which can not be changed.

If your machine is still attached to a USB hard drive after shutting down or sleeping, your machine will definitely use up power.

Have a nice day!

Nhawk

So what’s the point of “Turn off USB in S4/S5” in the BIOS?

support10

Nhawk

Hello Nhawk,

S4 is hibernation. The computer saves memory to storage and powers down most parts. S5 is full shutdown.
Reason for USB power still on:
There are BIOS settings overriding power - down for USB.

Have a nice day！

Nhawk

Then I don’t understand the point of that selection in the BIOS. Why have something that says power down USB during S4/S5, but yet it has no effect

Serli

Nhawk How high is your CPU usage when idle? On my system (SER8 with 8745HS running Windows 10 LTSC) it never goes below 5%, which is far too high.

support7

The USB port is always powered, even when the computer is turned off.
S4 and S5 are related to network wake-up.

Nhawk

Then can we get a new addition in the BIOS to disable the USB ports when computer is powered off?
My Gigabyte motherboard (Intel chipset) has the option to turn it on or off. Beelink SER8 should have it too.

support4

Nhawk
Hi there
I am sorry ,currently .
We don`t have such BIOS issued yet .
please stay tuned with us .
or try this .
Please check the save energy in the device manager—universal serial bus controller–USB hub—properties–power management—check “Allow the computer to turn off the device to save power”

Nhawk

I know the BIOS doesn’t have this feature now, but can you add it?
As for Device manager:

All USB devices already have "Allow the computer to turn off the device to save power” enabled
When the computer is off, Windows Device manager has no effect, since Windows is NOT running

support7

Thanks for your support .We will provide feedback to the R&D.

Nhawk

Windows 11 24H2 shows 2% when idle (lowest I’ve seen so far) and that results in 2.38Ghz CPU speed (Task Mgr)
Here’s a snapshot from CPU-Z:
Image description

Serli

Nhawk 2% is also too much for idling. Which process is causing the CPU load for you?

For me it is ‘system’ and frequent system interrupts.
‘system’ can be resolved to ntoskrnl.exe in the properties.

If you investigate further with WPA from the Windows Performance Toolkit, you get the following files that seem to be related to the high load:
msgpioclx.sys
Wdf01000.sys
ACPI.sys

Another approach is
powercfg /energy
This also indicates too high processor load, missing standby modes and the missing pluton driver.

It seems to be some kind of driver problem or a bad BIOS customisation.

support7

The normal CPU usage when idle can vary depending on several factors such as the system configuration, background processes, and software running. Here’s an analysis of your situation:

For the SER8 with 8745HS running Windows 10 LTSC
Possible reasons for relatively high idle CPU usage (never below 5%)
- Background services and processes: Windows 10 LTSC may have certain services or background processes that are constantly running and consuming CPU resources. Some of these could be related to system updates, antivirus software, or other installed applications that have background tasks. For example, if you have a cloud storage syncing application running in the background, it might be periodically checking for changes and using some CPU.
- Driver issues: Outdated or incorrect device drivers can cause the CPU to work harder than necessary. For instance, an improper graphics driver might lead to inefficient rendering processes that consume additional CPU cycles even when the system is idle.
- Power management settings: The power plan settings on your system could be configured in a way that causes the CPU to run at a higher frequency than needed when idle. This might be set to prioritize performance over energy savings, resulting in a higher CPU usage percentage.
For Windows 11 24H2 showing 2% idle CPU usage
Reasons for lower idle CPU usage
- Optimized system architecture: Windows 11 has been designed with certain optimizations to reduce idle CPU usage. Its kernel and system processes are more efficiently managed, which can lead to lower resource consumption when the system is not under heavy load.
- Improved power management: Windows 11 has better power management features that can more accurately adjust the CPU frequency based on the actual workload. This allows the CPU to run at a lower speed (such as the 2.38Ghz you observed in Task Manager) when idle, resulting in reduced CPU usage.
- Enhanced background process handling: The operating system is better at suspending or minimizing the impact of unnecessary background processes when the system is idle, reducing their CPU consumption.

3.To address the high idle CPU usage on your Windows 10 LTSC system, you could try the following steps:

Check background processes: Open the Task Manager and look for any unnecessary processes running in the background. Disable or uninstall any applications that you don’t need to be running all the time.
Update device drivers: Make sure all your device drivers, including those for the CPU, graphics card, and other peripherals, are up to date. You can do this through the device manufacturer’s website or using a driver update utility.
Adjust power plan settings: Try changing the power plan to a more energy-efficient one. In the Control Panel, go to “Power Options” and select a plan that prioritizes energy savings. This may cause the CPU to run at a lower frequency when idle, reducing the usage percentage.