I recently built myself a low power server with a Gigabyte G31 motherboard and a 45nm C2D celeron underclocked and undervolted as low as it will stably go.
(gigabyte boards are great for low power)
Whats nice is it doesn't use much more power than an atom, but it can perform if needed.
It draws 49W from the plug at idle, and I've got it running 3 virtual machines, one for each person at home, it also runs a skype phone.
Its great.
I've been wanting to build a low power PC for myself for a while now. My desktop is old (C2D E4400 overclocked from 2ghz to 3ghz) and idles at about 220W from the wall!
(it uses an old mobo, cheap PSU and a 7900GT that's never used for games)
I tend to have my PC on a lot and don't do CPU intensive stuff often, so I'm willing to accept less performance for low power. (or at least I think I am. I find my atom netbook to be slow at times, so I'm not sure if E350 will be enough)
I probably don't notice the CPU intensive stuff at the moment (photoshop or compiling code) because the C2D is quite capable.
I have 3 monitors running 1920x1080; So whatever system I build, it needs to have tripple output.
Either tripple onboard VGA (I don't think thats out yet), or the onboard VGA must work simultaneously with a PCI-E gfx card.
Before any smart-alics say my 3 monitors use a lot of power, I don't run them all unless I'm doing a lot of multi-tasking. My center LCD is LED backlight, uses less power than the other two.
So my choices are:
* Gigabyte G31 motherboard (ongoard gigabit LAN) with C2D underclocked and undervolted. (plenty of performance)
Then I'll add a USB3 card & Gfx Card.
I already have everything for this build, but I could use the parts elsewhere.
* E350 with graphics card, (should idle using 10W less [I'd guess]) but the slowness is likely to get to me.
After writing this thread I've convinced myself to go for the UcUv C2D G31 system.
But I'm still interested in comments.
By the way the G41 chipset uses about 10-15W more than the G31, generally; and theres not much benefit if you're not playing games.
Although G31 boards are scarce now.
BTW rectron still don't have any E-350 stuff...?
I really believe in having 2 PCs, one for games, and one for day to day stuff. Its such a waste of power having a games PC running all the time.
One interesting thing I've noticed. Most atom mini-itx motherboards idle at about 30W. But I've measured my netbook's power draw from 220V and IIRC it was like half that! I was amazed. netbooks are optimised for low power. Motherboards are optimised for low cost.
To be fair, motherboards generally have a lot more IOs than netbooks (PCI-E slot, more SATA & USB ports, LPT, Serial etc)
If you really want a low power desktop, use a netbook with external monitor.
But atom is bad enough on a netbook, I wouldn't want to use it day in and day out.
Imagine the extra overhead of running 2 USB-DVI converters! SLOOOW system.
Its an interesting compromise. Performance vs power usage.
For an ultra-cool low power system, you can get AMD Geode 500mhz boards, which draw 1A at 5V (5W power consumption). They're of course low spec (probably 256mb ram). But geez, if you need a simple server thats perfect. Unfortunately they're scarce and very expensive.
I'm looking forward to seeing the new AMD Zacate/bobcat low spec boards, and more info on power consumption (for server applications).
This might be of use to some people reading this Cheap AMD 4 drive NAS for R1300
(gigabyte boards are great for low power)
Whats nice is it doesn't use much more power than an atom, but it can perform if needed.
It draws 49W from the plug at idle, and I've got it running 3 virtual machines, one for each person at home, it also runs a skype phone.
Its great.
I've been wanting to build a low power PC for myself for a while now. My desktop is old (C2D E4400 overclocked from 2ghz to 3ghz) and idles at about 220W from the wall!
(it uses an old mobo, cheap PSU and a 7900GT that's never used for games)
I tend to have my PC on a lot and don't do CPU intensive stuff often, so I'm willing to accept less performance for low power. (or at least I think I am. I find my atom netbook to be slow at times, so I'm not sure if E350 will be enough)
I probably don't notice the CPU intensive stuff at the moment (photoshop or compiling code) because the C2D is quite capable.
I have 3 monitors running 1920x1080; So whatever system I build, it needs to have tripple output.
Either tripple onboard VGA (I don't think thats out yet), or the onboard VGA must work simultaneously with a PCI-E gfx card.
Before any smart-alics say my 3 monitors use a lot of power, I don't run them all unless I'm doing a lot of multi-tasking. My center LCD is LED backlight, uses less power than the other two.
So my choices are:
* Gigabyte G31 motherboard (ongoard gigabit LAN) with C2D underclocked and undervolted. (plenty of performance)
Then I'll add a USB3 card & Gfx Card.
I already have everything for this build, but I could use the parts elsewhere.
* E350 with graphics card, (should idle using 10W less [I'd guess]) but the slowness is likely to get to me.
After writing this thread I've convinced myself to go for the UcUv C2D G31 system.
But I'm still interested in comments.
By the way the G41 chipset uses about 10-15W more than the G31, generally; and theres not much benefit if you're not playing games.
Although G31 boards are scarce now.
BTW rectron still don't have any E-350 stuff...?
I really believe in having 2 PCs, one for games, and one for day to day stuff. Its such a waste of power having a games PC running all the time.
One interesting thing I've noticed. Most atom mini-itx motherboards idle at about 30W. But I've measured my netbook's power draw from 220V and IIRC it was like half that! I was amazed. netbooks are optimised for low power. Motherboards are optimised for low cost.
To be fair, motherboards generally have a lot more IOs than netbooks (PCI-E slot, more SATA & USB ports, LPT, Serial etc)
If you really want a low power desktop, use a netbook with external monitor.
But atom is bad enough on a netbook, I wouldn't want to use it day in and day out.
Imagine the extra overhead of running 2 USB-DVI converters! SLOOOW system.
Its an interesting compromise. Performance vs power usage.
For an ultra-cool low power system, you can get AMD Geode 500mhz boards, which draw 1A at 5V (5W power consumption). They're of course low spec (probably 256mb ram). But geez, if you need a simple server thats perfect. Unfortunately they're scarce and very expensive.
I'm looking forward to seeing the new AMD Zacate/bobcat low spec boards, and more info on power consumption (for server applications).
This might be of use to some people reading this Cheap AMD 4 drive NAS for R1300
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