Intel or AMD? What's TDP and how many cores do I need? Choosing a CPU can be a difficult choice. Yocto adds some important consideration that should help you choose, read on to find out which CPU best suits this case!

Power and cooling...

There are two important factors that will effectively limit your choice of processor: power and cooling. With a power budget of only 250 watts and a CPU cooler clearance of only 38mm, not all CPU's are supported.

If we subtract the 75 watts for the graphics card another 50 watts for the rest of the system, that leaves us with about 125 watts of power for the processor. While this is pretty generous for most processors, it rules out the highest end ones because they use more power. But with only the lowest profile CPU coolers supported, those would be too hard to cool anyway.

Entry level processors

I consider entry level processors to be processors around the 100-120 euros price point. They are perfectly capable of running a modern system while not limiting your 75 watts graphics card whatsoever. They are easy to cool and you will have a silent machine even under load.

  1. AMD Ryzen 5 5500
  2. Intel Core i3 13100(F)
  3. AMD Ryzen 5 5600G

 

Midrange processors

Midrange processors range from 150-200 euros. They will generally more cores and a higher frequency that entry level processors, which benefits users who also like to do more CPU intensive tasks like streaming or rendering.

  1. AMD Ryzen 5 5600(X)
  2. Intel Core i5-13400
  3. Intel Core i5-12400

 

High end processors

High end processors are the best processors supported by Yocto. They're not the best and fastest processors on the market, but they pack enough punch for some of the most demanding users.

  1. AMD Ryzen 5 7600
  2. AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
  3. Intel Core i5-13500