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this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2024
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Yeah, I manage the infrastructure for almost 150 WordPress sites, and I moved them all to ARM servers a while ago, because they're 10% or 20% cheaper on AWS.
Websites are rarely bottlenecked by the CPU, so that power efficiency is very significant.
I really think that most people who think that they want ARM machines are wrong, at least given the state of things in 2024. Like, maybe you use Linux...but do you want to run x86 Windows binary-only games? Even if you can get 'em running, you've lost the power efficiency. What's hardware support like? Do you want to be able to buy other components? If you like stuff like that Framework laptop, which seems popular on here, an SoC is heading in the opposite direction of that -- an all-in-one, non-expandable manufacturer-specified system.
But yours is a legit application. A non-CPU-constrained datacenter application running open-source software compiled against ARM, where someone else has validated that the hardware is all good for the OS.
I would not go ARM for a desktop or laptop as things stand, though.
If you didn't want to game on your laptop, would an ARM device not be better for office work? Considering they're quiet and their battery lasts forever.
ARM chips aren't better at power efficiency compared to x84 above 10 or 15W or so. Apple is getting a lot out of them because TSMC 3nm; even the upcoming AMD 9000 series will only be on TSMC 4nm.
ARM is great for having more than one competent company in the market, though.
Do you have a source for that? It seems a bit hard to believe.
If you look at pfsense/OPNsense hardware recommendations, it's almost all using chips like the Intel N5105 (10W TDP, though admittedly "TDP" is itself a messy term) or J4125 (also 10W TDP). Using ARM hardware is asked a lot in the community forums, and it's one of those questions that will get you a flamed for not checking Google first. The power usage benefits for switching to ARM just aren't there.
There is the Netgate 1100, which runs ARM on a proprietary build of pfsense. The community has largely ignored it in favor of Intel chips. There isn't much of a price advantage, and the performance is lackluster.
That said, there's lots that you can do with a sub-10W chip, and x86 has nothing modern there.
Personally, I cobbled together an OPNsense firewall out of some old desktop parts I had on hand. Power usage is a bit higher, but not so much that I care. I would like a more viable high-end ARM option, though, just because I don't want x86 to be the only option.
Extrapolating the specific use case of pfsense routers to all other applications seems misleading, especially when arm laptops and servers exist that prove their utility and power savings for their use cases. It seems to be the case that there isn’t a particular arm device that is priced well and well suited for pfsense, which does have somewhat unusual requirements compared to other applications.
As long as the apps all work. So much stuff is browser based now, but something will always turns up that doesn't work. Something like mandatory timesheet software, a bespoke tool etc.
But isn't there x86 emulation for those edge cases?
Depends if you trust it to actually work.