camper van computer

[butchandmungo]

Hi

This is my first post on the forum but it has been a great resource over the years so many thanks for that!

Anyway i am intending on building a diy camper in a big transit (or similar) van later this year. This will have 12 vdc battery powering everything and solar panels to charge batteries.

I am looking for the ultimate efficiency gaming system to put into said van. Some of the games i play are; heavily modded starsector, total war: warhammer 3, battle brothers, mount and blade and underrail (and underrail 2 when that comes out!)

My initial idea is to run a 8500g on intergrated graphic on a b650 board, with the nicest ram i can find for a reasonable price. Psu will be a pico psu wired into a voltage regulator, which in turn will connect directly to the battery. This avoids any dc-ac-dc conversion losses.

Cpu will be undervolted as far as possible and ram with as tight timings as possible. These are something i would need to learn, but i have started watching buildzoid on yt to start that process.

Is this sensible or does anyone have a better idea to maximise performance. Any suggestions are very appreciated as its surprisingly difficult to find useful information about this particular use case online.

Many thanks

 

[Waldorf]

cant talk about m/igpu stuff (havent used/build with it in 10y), but seen it so many times (with different things) that the (next) bigger/faster thing would do better.
like me driving a 100 HP golf using 10l/100km while my fathers E55 with a 5L V8 would use the same amount at similar speed (hwy, 160-200km/h).
e.g. maybe 8700 and not have to use 100% resource to do tasks, instead of "maxing out" the 8500.

for the camper, havent looked at campers for a while, but maybe check VW/MB stuff with AWD? can come in handy when moving around.
many of the more newer/powerful solar stuff i have seen online seems to use 24V, maybe look into that as well.

 

[Carlyle2020hs]

I hate laptops.

The best they can ever be is mediocre conerning raw compute.

But try as you might, you can´t beat the new gen laptops concerning efficiency.

Buy a new latop and concentrate more on fixtures than DIYing some power guzzling mishmash.

 

[Waldorf]

@Carlyle2020hs
except many with campers have tvs, so a laptop would mean wasting money on a screen you dont really need.
money that could go towards "better/more" hw or other things.

 

[Carlyle2020hs]

You mean to tell me that a movable screen does not fit the theme of a movable home?

So you can park near a river but you cannot work outside near the stream on a big stone during a hot summers day?

Why bother with mobility if that´s not truly on the menue?

 

[Waldorf]

never said anything about that.
besides, i would rather use a tablet for anything "outside" having longer battery time and needing less time and/or power to recharge.

ignoring you probably will have to convert dc to ac to run/charge the latop, so it will probably negate at least some of the efficency.

and its not up to us what/how ppl wanna do things, but give advice/options, nor do we know if/what parts are already available, vs spending more just to get a laptop instead.

same way i wont tell someone to not get a pink bike for their kid/relative, just because i dont like the color or a different color thats cheaper, or it would be easier to give away/sell later on.

 

[dgianstefani]

8500G is too weak for those games, you'll want a 8700G. Even then you won't be hitting 60 FPS stable.

Better yet a X3D and a VSync locked FPS RTX card undervolted.

Or just buy a laptop.

 

[Waldorf]

well, there is no mentionig of res or game settings used.
and res is still the biggest fps hit besides maybe RT.

 

[LowCacheMemory]

hey man, I think that your build doesn't need to be that conservative on power, so I would recommend a graphics card. My go to for your situation would be a 1650, great performance, great energy consumption. But it all depends on your battery setup at the moment. It has a TDP of 75w, and it does fine on your motherboard, but I would make sure your batteries are enough. Also, great game recommendations you just gave me! Ill be checking out the underrail one!

 

[butchandmungo]

cant talk about m/igpu stuff (havent used/build with it in 10y), but seen it so many times (with different things) that the (next) bigger/faster thing would do better.
like me driving a 100 HP golf using 10l/100km while my fathers E55 with a 5L V8 would use the same amount at similar speed (hwy, 160-200km/h).
e.g. maybe 8700 and not have to use 100% resource to do tasks, instead of "maxing out" the 8500.

for the camper, havent looked at campers for a while, but maybe check VW/MB stuff with AWD? can come in handy when moving around.
many of the more newer/powerful solar stuff i have seen online seems to use 24V, maybe look into that as well.

I did consider the 8600g (8700g too expensive for my needs, really don't need all that cpu power), unless im missing something why not get the cheaper model if i am just going to downclock more capable one?

Unlike cars cpus don't quite wear out if driven at 100% compared to 70% for the same performance

I hate laptops.

The best they can ever be is mediocre conerning raw compute.

But try as you might, you can´t beat the new gen laptops concerning efficiency.

Buy a new latop and concentrate more on fixtures than DIYing some power guzzling mishmash.

I am certainly not a fan of laptops either! The lack of upgrading and problems with heat buildup is quite the turnoff for me.

Also a laptop at the same compute as an equivalent desktop computer, would probably cost twice as much if not more.

You bring up a good point as maybe i am not looking for pure efficency. Perhaps more a price to efficiency balance is a better goal.

8500G is too weak for those games, you'll want a 8700G. Even then you won't be hitting 60 FPS stable.

Better yet a X3D and a VSync locked FPS RTX card undervolted.

Or just buy a laptop.

Yes you are right that i won't be hitting 60 hz with the 8500g, but the fact it draws approx 80w compared to more than double that with the 8700g it is a fair bit more efficient.

An rtx gpu on its own would probably draw 80w on its own, so that is kinda out of the question.

 

[butchandmungo]

hey man, I think that your build doesn't need to be that conservative on power, so I would recommend a graphics card. My go to for your situation would be a 1650, great performance, great energy consumption. But it all depends on your battery setup at the moment. It has a TDP of 75w, and it does fine on your motherboard, but I would make sure your batteries are enough. Also, great game recommendations you just gave me! Ill be checking out the underrail one!

Nice one man yea really love underrail. Just be sure to check the forums for help at first, quite an unforgiving learning curve!

But yea you are right, i should probably have mentioned the battery capacity to begin with.
It'll most likely be a 250 to 300 Ah @ 12v lipo battery (depending on what deals i can find on aliexpress).

I have thought about the low power gpus, but they all have such low vram! I am unsure whether it would be enough, especially TW warhammer 3.

 

[butchandmungo]

well, there is no mentionig of res or game settings used.
and res is still the biggest fps hit besides maybe RT.

Yes sorry another missed detail. 1080p low settings.

 

[butchandmungo]

By the sounds of it a laptop is starting to look like one of the better options, but honestly i really wouldn't know where to start looking hardware and brand wise.

Does anyone have suggestions for laptops that aren't silly expensive? Or even just a general idea of what to look for would be great. My experience is very much not in the mobile side of hardware.

 

[dgianstefani]

Notebookcheck.net

 

[Veseleil]

You don't need to be too much conservative on power consumption if you invest enough into your battery (converter and solar panels and other parts ofc). It's not like you're gaming 24/7 in a camper van... Solar energy system with decent (battery) capacity will give you enough power for everything you really need in a camper, like fridge, freezer, lighting, multimedia, etc.