• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

camper van computer

butchandmungo

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2025
Messages
8 (2.67/day)
What is your performance target? I ran TWWH 1 on a basic Intel iGPU and it was reasonably stable at 30 FPS. An 8500G should be sufficient for that.
I would be more than happy with 30 fps in any if the games i mentioned. I have seen performance figures of the 8600g on youtube and they sat around 40 fps, so i suspect you are bang on the money!
And please do come back to show us what you did with the van, and ultimately what was your choice for a gaming rig. :)
Certainly will do. I imagine it will take a while as i plan to build whilst i go to college, but would love to show off the finished product!
@butchandmungo
it wasnt about engine load, but (fuel) efficiency at higher hwy speeds.

you sure you want lipos for storage? even a small 2Ah would turn your camper into a nordic steam bath with fireworks.
check for marine/car audio batteries that allow for deep cycle, something like AGMs (Optima).
also makes charging a little easier, as you dont need an expensive controller, and with agm no venting needed.

yellowtop
Ahh get ya, makes sense.

I have compared at agm and lithium ion batteries, and lithium came out on top because and agm is too expensive for the voltage/Ah.

You can get 3x 100Ah no name chinese junk batteries off ebay for £300 or so, but the quality batteries are around that for just 1. A set of 4x 3.2v 280Ah lipo are approx £300 and come with loads of reviews on diysolar forums.

Plus the life cycles of lithium ion completely overshadow any other battery technology and i will be using them daily, so that is a massive factor too.
I agree with others that a laptop is the way to go for maximum total performance/Watt.

If you hate laptops, and want the flexibility of separate peripherals, take a look at the Minisforum AMD APU-based mini-PCs. They're not crazy powerful but they use laptop parts so they're way more efficient than building something like an 8500G on a desktop board.

I have some UM773Lite models which would probably do everything you want to do on a low budget. I use them behind wall-mounted TVs in meeting rooms and configure them down to 15W but they're pretty capable light gaming machines if you pick 35-45W cTDP in the BIOS.

The fastest newest model is their EliteMini AI370 using AMD's flagship notebook APU (Strix Point) and I can pick one up in the UK for £1029 with 32GB and 1TB SSD.

These miniPCs aren't really any different to laptops of similar spec, but the form factor and flexibility in peripherals might work for you in the camper van where a laptop doesn't do it for you.


Also Jarrod, he seems to cover more laptops than most people:

That UM773 looks bloody great for the money and laptop efficient to boot! Thank you for the tip.

Tbh you have sent me down a rabbithole with mini pc's in general. I was aware they exsisted, but i really am amazed at the power they can cram into such a small formfactor.

Again like laptops they are unfortunately not upgradable, apart from ram and storage, but the ecosystem looks so much more consumer friendly compared to laptops, which are just rip offs imo.

Will also check out jarrods youtube. Thanks again :)
Hey mate, I think that the 1650 should do just fine for Warhammer, check out this Vid!

.

The 1650 should not be underestimate lol.
Damn that is running really well, and the 1% lows are not all over the place so vram seems to be under control too.

Definitely another bit of food for thought considering how cheap they are these days too!

Nice one man :)
Stop confusing him!

Lipo is not a li-ion chemistry but merely a construction format the cell is made in. Since he will no doubt be forced to go Lifepo4 if he chooses lithium/lithium-ion, that is a fairly safe chemistry to use (from a fundamental chemistry level). No lithium 12V battery (Lifepo4) in offgrid apps goes up in fireworks.

Since he hasn't mentioned how long he will be offgrid or his power consumption you cant just recommend him any battery. AGM optima are not for real offgrid and are for 4x4ing and have a poor cycle life and size.

The AGM to go for is one with a cycle life of 1000-1500cyles to 50% depth of discharge.

What he needs to consider is:
1: first calculate his total power consumption,
2: realize he may very well need to shave off as much as possible,
3: how long will he be offgrid for at a time?
4: his battery and solar budget,
5: what chemistry? i.e space and weight considerations lead acid vs lithium,
6: how many days of runtime or how big should the battery capacity be? 1.5 days minimum? 5 days to give a nice big buffer in bad weather?
7: how to recharge the battery when it's cloudy for many days? Maybe add vehicle charging aswell.
8: due to limitations in solar efficiency and roof space, does he need portable panels aswell? as portable can be better focused at the sun.
9: understand the dangers of electrical faults and poor electrical work that can lead to fires.

As others have said a laptop is the way to go, you can take it outside on a park bench or have it on your bed etc. I would use an external monitor, keyboard and mouse for a dekstop setup too.
Don't worry im not confused at all, all suggestions are appreciated :)

If i weren't to be using it all the time any old cheap leisure battery would probably have done fine, but as you say the lifecycles are just too low for continual use.

Safety wise i am planning on going completely overkill with fuses and kill switches, plus a grounded 1/4" steel box with smoke sensors to house the cells. Should be okay just in case.

In relation to your list, yea there are quite a few things still on the drawing board but at this stage im trying to get the basics in order and make a plan. I mean, can't possibly live in a van without a gaming setup!!! :p
Is the math as simple as 1KW @ 240V = 4.17A, and 280Ah/4.17A = 67KWh? (minus some inverter losses, presumably)?
You are along the right tracks, apart from it will be a 12v system, not 240v and the last equation would just be in hours as the "A"s cancel out.

So worked out in 12v it would be: 1kw @ 12v = 83.3A, so 280Ah/83.3A = 3.36 hours, or about 200 minutes of continual use.
 

Count von Schwalbe

Nocturnus Moderatus
Staff member
Joined
Nov 15, 2021
Messages
3,309 (2.79/day)
Location
Knoxville, TN, USA
System Name Work Computer | Unfinished Computer
Processor Core i7-6700 | Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard Dell Q170 | Gigabyte Aorus Elite Wi-Fi
Cooling A fan? | Truly Custom Loop
Memory 4x4GB Crucial 2133 C17 | 4x8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 3600 C26
Video Card(s) Dell Radeon R7 450 | RTX 2080 Ti FE
Storage Crucial BX500 2TB | TBD
Display(s) 3x LG QHD 32" GSM5B96 | TBD
Case Dell | Heavily Modified Phanteks P400
Power Supply Dell TFX Non-standard | EVGA BQ 650W
Mouse Monster No-Name $7 Gaming Mouse| TBD
I am going to second the idea of a minipc. I have learned to respect what they can do and they sure take up a lot less room than a full PC, even an ITX build.

You can get them set up to take socketed CPUs (minisforum MS-A1), but the most efficient ones reuse laptop CPUs.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
8,767 (4.01/day)
System Name Bragging Rights
Processor Atom Z3735F 1.33GHz
Motherboard It has no markings but it's green
Cooling No, it's a 2.2W processor
Memory 2GB DDR3L-1333
Video Card(s) Gen7 Intel HD (4EU @ 311MHz)
Storage 32GB eMMC and 128GB Sandisk Extreme U3
Display(s) 10" IPS 1280x800 60Hz
Case Veddha T2
Audio Device(s) Apparently, yes
Power Supply Samsung 18W 5V fast-charger
Mouse MX Anywhere 2
Keyboard Logitech MX Keys (not Cherry MX at all)
VR HMD Samsung Oddyssey, not that I'd plug it into this though....
Software W10 21H1, barely
Benchmark Scores I once clocked a Celeron-300A to 564MHz on an Abit BE6 and it scored over 9000.
@butchandmungo - what's your laptop/mini-PC budget?

In terms of gaming requirements your needs are pretty modest but a mini PC will draw about 50W under load, 10W idle, and a 27" monitor is probably in the 30-60W ballpark depending on model and brightness settings you use.

Laptops of similar gaming chops are going to be a little bit better on power consumption, mostly because at idle their displays consume less power, being both smaller and generally inferior quality/brightness compared to a midrange monitor offering.

If you're talking about 3.36KWh as an example, that's going to buy you 30+ hours of gaming at 100W, or 50+ hours of browsing/media playback on the assumption that it's pitch black and nothing is going back into the battery. A more potent gaming laptop with a dedicated GPU isn't going to be crazily higher - I've seen RTX 4060 laptops reviewed as under 150W at full load from the wall.
 
Joined
Nov 7, 2017
Messages
2,101 (0.79/day)
Location
Ibiza, Spain.
System Name Main
Processor R7 5950x
Motherboard MSI x570S Unify-X Max
Cooling converted Eisbär 280, two F14 + three F12S intake, two P14S + two P14 + two F14 as exhaust
Memory 16 GB Corsair LPX bdie @3600/16 1.35v
Video Card(s) GB 2080S WaterForce WB
Storage six M.2 pcie gen 4
Display(s) Sony 50X90J
Case Tt Level 20 HT
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar AE, modded Sennheiser HD 558, Klipsch 2.1 THX
Power Supply Corsair RMx 750w
Mouse Logitech G903
Keyboard GSKILL Ripjaws
VR HMD NA
Software win 10 pro x64
Benchmark Scores TimeSpy score Fire Strike Ultra SuperPosition CB20
@butchandmungo
di would definitely wait with the "pc"/screen part, until its the last thing you need to do.
even if its only taking you 2y, by then you might have different chips but at least lower prices for whats out "today".
 

butchandmungo

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2025
Messages
8 (2.67/day)
@butchandmungo - what's your laptop/mini-PC budget?

In terms of gaming requirements your needs are pretty modest but a mini PC will draw about 50W under load, 10W idle, and a 27" monitor is probably in the 30-60W ballpark depending on model and brightness settings you use.

Laptops of similar gaming chops are going to be a little bit better on power consumption, mostly because at idle their displays consume less power, being both smaller and generally inferior quality/brightness compared to a midrange monitor offering.

If you're talking about 3.36KWh as an example, that's going to buy you 30+ hours of gaming at 100W, or 50+ hours of browsing/media playback on the assumption that it's pitch black and nothing is going back into the battery. A more potent gaming laptop with a dedicated GPU isn't going to be crazily higher - I've seen RTX 4060 laptops reviewed as under 150W at full load from the wall.
There is no set budget yet, but i was hoping to spend no more than £500. Preferably less if possible.

Yea whilst looking at reviews of the UM773 lite, it can draw as much as 100w under load, so not much more effecient than a 8500g!? Maybe there are more power efficient models out there, i need to do more research.

BTW an 1080p IPS monitor can pull anywhere from 15w to 40w @ 200 nits. Theres some good charts on monitors unboxed (hardware unboxed sister channel).

Browsing and media playback (unless a film) is usually on my phone so the pc would almost be exclusively gaming.

Interestingly LowCacheMemory's suggestion made me look at low power gpu's again and the rx 6400 actually looks quite good (relatively i mean, its totally shit otherwise). Same performance as 1650 but at 40w!

Maybe that paired with a power limited ryzen 7600 or even 7500f could give the best performance per watt out of all?

Edit: actually thinking about it why even have a cpu that can push 300 fps into a card that does 60 fps. Maybe going back to a ryzen 5600 is an option?

@butchandmungo
di would definitely wait with the "pc"/screen part, until its the last thing you need to do.
even if its only taking you 2y, by then you might have different chips but at least lower prices for whats out "today".
Yea i will be building pretty much everything before the computer, so as you say parts mentioned are subject to change. I hope it won't take two years though!

But i think the general ideas are still valid, which types of form factors and hardware combos get the best bang for watt (and buck to a degree)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
8,767 (4.01/day)
System Name Bragging Rights
Processor Atom Z3735F 1.33GHz
Motherboard It has no markings but it's green
Cooling No, it's a 2.2W processor
Memory 2GB DDR3L-1333
Video Card(s) Gen7 Intel HD (4EU @ 311MHz)
Storage 32GB eMMC and 128GB Sandisk Extreme U3
Display(s) 10" IPS 1280x800 60Hz
Case Veddha T2
Audio Device(s) Apparently, yes
Power Supply Samsung 18W 5V fast-charger
Mouse MX Anywhere 2
Keyboard Logitech MX Keys (not Cherry MX at all)
VR HMD Samsung Oddyssey, not that I'd plug it into this though....
Software W10 21H1, barely
Benchmark Scores I once clocked a Celeron-300A to 564MHz on an Abit BE6 and it scored over 9000.
There is no set budget yet, but i was hoping to spend no more than £500. Preferably less if possible.

Yea whilst looking at reviews of the UM773 lite, it can draw as much as 100w under load, so not much more effecient than a 8500g!? Maybe there are more power efficient models out there, i need to do more research.
Yeah, when the time comes I'd look for laptop deals or something akin to the UM773Lite. I've heard stories of the UM773 frying their power delivery if you run them at 54W cTDP all day every day, so I treat it as a 45W part and personally think 28-35W is the sweet spot for daily use. cTDP is the average power draw over time, so you may see boost spikes to higher wattage, but it won't sustain that power draw for long.

As for laptops, £500 is in the territory of 40-series low-end laptops going on sale maybe when the 50-series laptops start to need shelf space. A budget 4050 laptop like an HP victus might hit that sort of price point, or you can try your luck with the used market - quality metal-chassis gaming laptops like Omen, Legion, Helios etc might be in reach and assuming they're in good condition also likely to survive a second owner. I avoid plastic laptops like the plaugue on Ebay - they're easy to damage and difficult/not economical to repair.
 

dgianstefani

TPU Proofreader
Staff member
Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Messages
5,284 (2.03/day)
Location
Swansea, Wales
System Name Silent/X1 Yoga/S25U-1TB
Processor Ryzen 9800X3D @ 5.575ghz all core 1.24 V, Thermal Grizzly AM5 High Performance Heatspreader/1185 G7
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix X670E-I, chipset fans replaced with Noctua A14x25 G2
Cooling Optimus Block, HWLabs Copper 240/40 + 240/30, D5/Res, 4x Noctua A12x25, 1x A14G2, Mayhems Ultra Pure
Memory 64 GB Dominator Titanium White 6000 MT, 130 ns tRFC, active cooled
Video Card(s) RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition, Conductonaut Extreme, 18 W/mK MinusPad Extreme, Corsair XG7 Waterblock
Storage Intel Optane DC P1600X 118 GB, Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB
Display(s) 32" 240 Hz 1440p Samsung G7, 31.5" 165 Hz 1440p LG NanoIPS Ultragear, MX900 dual gas VESA mount
Case Sliger SM570 CNC Aluminium 13-Litre, 3D printed feet, custom front, LINKUP Ultra PCIe 4.0 x16 White
Audio Device(s) Audeze Maxwell Ultraviolet w/upgrade pads & LCD headband, Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, Razer Nommo Pro
Power Supply SF1000 Plat, full transparent custom cables, Sentinel Pro 1500 Online Double Conversion UPS w/Noctua
Mouse Razer Viper V3 Pro 8 KHz Mercury White & Pulsar Supergrip tape, Razer Atlas, Razer Strider Chroma
Keyboard Wooting 60HE+ module, TOFU-R CNC Alu/Brass, SS Prismcaps W+Jellykey, LekkerV2 mod, TLabs Leath/Suede
Software Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 24H2
Benchmark Scores Legendary
There is no set budget yet, but i was hoping to spend no more than £500. Preferably less if possible.

Yea whilst looking at reviews of the UM773 lite, it can draw as much as 100w under load, so not much more effecient than a 8500g!? Maybe there are more power efficient models out there, i need to do more research.

BTW an 1080p IPS monitor can pull anywhere from 15w to 40w @ 200 nits. Theres some good charts on monitors unboxed (hardware unboxed sister channel).

Browsing and media playback (unless a film) is usually on my phone so the pc would almost be exclusively gaming.

Interestingly LowCacheMemory's suggestion made me look at low power gpu's again and the rx 6400 actually looks quite good (relatively i mean, its totally shit otherwise). Same performance as 1650 but at 40w!

Maybe that paired with a power limited ryzen 7600 or even 7500f could give the best performance per watt out of all?

Edit: actually thinking about it why even have a cpu that can push 300 fps into a card that does 60 fps. Maybe going back to a ryzen 5600 is an option?


Yea i will be building pretty much everything before the computer, so as you say parts mentioned are subject to change. I hope it won't take two years though!

But i think the general ideas are still valid, which types of form factors and hardware combos get the best bang for watt (and buck to a degree)
6400 is literal Ewaste that doesn't even have the benefit of a good upscaler as a crutch.

Get a mini PC or splurge and get something with a 3050 or a 4060 so you can use DLSS to make up for weak GPU.

Laptops with 4060 start at about £650, less if you buy used.

6400 is a bit weaker than an RX470, a 9 year old entry level GPU.
 
Top