Fanless Intel N200 Power Consumption and Noise
The fanless N200 system came with a 60W AcBel power supply.
This PSU seems to be an upgrade over the terrible PSUs this class of system came with 18 months ago. This has regulatory markings and seems to be much better than the “Replacement AC Adapter” units that came with the fanless systems we purchased a year (or more) ago from AliExpress.
In terms of power consumption, both the N100 and N200 consumed around 10.5-12W at idle. That feels high, especially since the 35W TDP-fanned 1L PCs like the HP Elite Mini 600 G9 is under 8W. On the maximum power consumption side, these only raised to 22-23W for the N100. The N200 was often 3-7W higher at the wall depending on the workload. While at idle they are similar, the cost of going 8-10% faster is more power consumption.
Key Lessons Learned
Perhaps the biggest takeaway was the N200 vs N100 comparison in these. The two chips are very close in terms of performance.
At some point, we wonder why we need to make a recommendation between the Intel N200 and N100. From a broader market perspective, they are very close in power consumption and performance. To us, it feels like this needs market de-segmentation and the N100 vs N200 should be a configurable TDP difference on the same SKU. One can choose a TDP level, increasing for higher clocks and performance, and lowering for lower power. Alder Lake-N is not even more efficient on a performance/ watt basis than some of the lower-power Alder Lake parts.
Our best guess is that if these chips were sold as a single SKU with a configurable TDP to N100 or N200 levels, most of our readers would pick the N100. As a result, the N200 feels like an option for those who need slightly more performance than the N100, but nowhere near the performance of the Core i3-N305 8-core version. Still, the N100 and N200 are too close together and it is a shame we have to pick at the time of ordering for fanless firewall boxes like this.,
Final Words
As we saw with the N100 version, the fanless Intel N200 4x 2.5GbE firewall performed well and generally had good features and solid quality upgrades over the previous generation.
From a generational perspective, this is a massive jump in performance. Still, the fact that the N100 is so close in terms of performance makes us think that many of our readers will prefer that part over this. On the other hand, for our readers with lower electricity rates, some will spend a few dollars more and just get the extra 9-10% performance the N200 offers.
If you want to see what other STH users are doing with these machines, you can check out the STH forums with an AWESOME thread on them.
Where to Buy
We purchased units from CWWK and Topton. Both use the CWWK motherboard. Here is an AliExpress affiliate link to the listing we used to purchase both the N100 and N200 versions.
Interesting comments about the difficulties of ordering what YOU want from AliExpress…only to get what they send to you. That’s my take on that matter.
I really feel comfortable ordering from AliExpress…NOT.
The DDR5 option is neat. Single channel and single memory slot are not. What about virtualization???
This is not an Intel N200 but a Topton N200. I would suggest changing the headline so the use of the Intel trademark doesn’t suggest it’s a product made by Intel.
@Stamo, it’s a single memory channel CPU.
Anyone else getting hot (>70°C idle) NVMe in those passive boxes? I had to add a fan
I dunno Patrick, it just looks like a Raspberry Pi replacement to me.
“G” = GPIO?
So what is this CWWK company? I’ve found just cwwk.net. Company behind .net domain? Let’s see about and contacts. About us is some motivation blah and contact is just a pure web form. There is *NO* contact address at all.
Now, tell me, who would deploy device made by such company into the company network? In times when PRC based companies run spy opperation left and right either intentionaly or unintentionally, I should deploy *annonymoyus* company network appliance? For what? Just to save few bucks in comparison with trusted equipment?
Patrick, sorry about rant, but your constant advertisement of PRC based products is getting to my nerves. You can do better, way better. :-)
Again, I take umbrage on your presentation of performance metrics. For deity’s sake, put a clear (red rectangle?) marking on the chip (and associated bar) you want my eye to focus on, don’t make me read 20+ useless CPU descriptors.
I spit on your page 3!
This device with a sfp+ port would be awesome