Comparison of energy consumption of Raspberry PI generations 3, 4 and 5, and typical mini-PC used at LRO
Here’s a comparison of typical power consumption (no peripherals or display) for each device, measured at the wall under different workloads.
| Device | Idle Power | Moderate Load (e.g. data logging, web, Python) | Heavy Load (CPU 100%, GPU active) | Notes |
| Raspberry Pi 3B+ | 2.5 W | 4 W | 6 W | 5 V @ 1.2 A typical, micro-USB powered |
| Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB) | 3 W | 5 W | 7–8 W | 5 V @ 1.5 A typical; can briefly hit 9 W if all cores + GPU |
| Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB) | 4–5 W | 7–9 W | 12–14 W | 27 W PSU recommended; more power-hungry but far faster |
| Mini PC – Dell i5, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD | 8–12 W | 18–25 W | 35–55 W | Depends on model (e.g. OptiPlex Micro, Inspiron Mini); typically 19 V DC supply |
Summary:
- Raspberry Pi 3 → 4 → 5 shows roughly double power use each generation, but massive performance gains.
- Mini PC (Intel i5 class) uses about 3–5× more power than Pi 5 but delivers desktop-grade performance.
- If left on 24 h/day:
- Pi 3 ≈ 0.06 kWh/day
- Pi 4 ≈ 0.10 kWh/day
- Pi 5 ≈ 0.20 kWh/day
- Dell Mini PC ≈ 0.60 kWh/day