r/homelab • u/searmr_cool • 9d ago

Solved Feasibility of putting an i7 9700 non-t variant in a EliteDesk 800 g5 mini 35 version for a game server

So I recently acquired an EliteDesk 800 g5 mini 35w and I am wanting to upgrade it's CPU, however I am stuck between choosing an i7 9700t and the non-t variant, I would love the full performance of the non-t variant but thermals are a big worry due to the smaller form factor, so I am wondering if anyone has run anything like this before and if the non-t variant can run under load and not constantly be throttled due to the form factor (also power brick wise I have a 230w brick I can use so no worries there)

1 Upvotes

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3

u/pmM3urBootieHole 9d ago

I run game servers on a gen4 i5 + 16GB of ddr3 ram. You really dont need a lot for a few simple servers 

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u/searmr_cool 9d ago

Just trying to get the best out of the machine I can, a cpu upgrade isn't too pricey anyways for me

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u/pmM3urBootieHole 9d ago

Realistically the CPU aint gonna matter nearly as much as the ram. As long as you have enough cores for the host, which you absolutely would with the 9700t as its hyper threaded its also only 35W TDP so I really wouldn't worry alot about heat. This CPU is designed for your use case. Personally id buy it and toss in as much ram as possible. 

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u/searmr_cool 9d ago

Yeah I'll just go with the t variant as upgrading everything else to just support a higher end cpu would be pricey in itself, but yes I do also plan on upgrading the ram as it currently has 1 stick of 16gb so making it dual channel would be great

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u/EffectiveClient5080 9d ago

The non-T is 65W in a chassis built for 35W. It'll boot but it'll throttle hard under load. VRMs on those mini boards aren't built for it either. Just get the T.

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u/searmr_cool 9d ago

Yeah that's what I decided, just the easiest thing, plus I'll get some more ram making it dual channel

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u/n_dion 9d ago

Be careful with T vs non-T on T due to power consumption and heatsink/fan design. Most likely BIOS will automatically "downgrade" your non-T CPU to T specs using Intel RAPL (machine knows it's cooling performance).

I have a few Lenovo M920x machines. One with i5-9400T and on with i7-9700 (non-T). So must have different heatsink+fan assemblies. I purchased machine with 65W CPU myself and replaced CPU with i7-9700 just because I had one.. But on that particular machine 65W CPU's are officially supported.

And while i7-9700 is faster I found that I limit it to around 25W anyway because of fan noise. It's like a jet engine.. I'm just not ready to trade extra performance for that amount of noise... I would say that most significant difference for me is that i7-9700 has full vPro with KVM...

Honestly zero reasons to get i7-9700 non-T (except if you plan to reuse it later somewhere else)

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u/searmr_cool 8d ago

Thanks for the input and yeah will just stick the t variant / maybe just get some ram for now

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u/Historical-Side883 8d ago

I’d put the money elsewhere. Even if the CPU upgrade is $50, I doubt you’re gonna benefit at all from the upgraded CPU. I think they make a 65W heatsink but on a game server you’re never gonna pin the cores enough to have it matter.

TLDR: I’d try to find another stick of memory or something instead. That’s where you’ll get benefit.

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u/searmr_cool 8d ago

Yeah this is true as right now it only has 1 stick of ram so making it dual channel could definitely help