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.