For those interested in some numbers on how much a quad-core mod might affect your power usage and battery life. This post only covers power consumption of the CPU as measured by RAPL to eliminate other factors such as LCD panel type, attached USB devices, or number of SSDs installed.
Averages for dual-core i5-3210M, 35W TDP:
- Idle: 2.87 W
- Moderate load: 13.79 W
Averages for quad-core i7-3612QE, 35W TDP:
- Idle: 3.84 W
- Moderate load: 13.03 W
Since I have been unable to source a ULV-modded board, I am looking for justification to do the mod myself. As part of this, I tested a S230U with the dual-core i5-3317U, 17W TDP:
- Idle: 2.49 W
- Moderate load: 9.51 W
Will come back with more numbers if I succeed in putting the ULV chip in an X230. Don't hold your breath since it's a complicated operation with many potential issues. You are also welcome to DM me if you want to sell a ULV-equipped board.
Experiment setup:
- Command:
sudo powerstat -R 10 10
- Idle: Debian 13 TTY, X session logged out
- Moderate load: Xfce desktop, Librewolf with uBlock Origin, playing a 720p Youtube video
- I am not sure how much this affects the numbers, but the S230U is on the stock BIOS while the two X230's are on Coreboot with me_cleaner.