Hello!
I'm planning to build a small home router/server - replacement for my current wrt54gl. I want to keep it running 24/7 so i need power consumption to be as low as possible. I did some energy calculations and i decided to not use more than 25W, where 5W of it i reserved for gigabit switch to improve data transfer between single computers.
Next thing to think about was base platform. Firstly i was thinking about something similar to raspberry pi but with two ethernet ports. Instead i have found ALIX board based on AMD geode processor - what made me happy because i like AMD products (all home computers are based on AMD hardware

). When i was thinking more and more i asked myself - if i have an x86 platform - why not to go further and use something faster. Idea to use mini-itx motherboard with integrated E450 was born. First problem which i faced, is that in my country i cannot buy motherboard with E450 equipped with 2 ethernet ports

I thought then about Intel processors, much more energy efficient. I have found an Intel DQ77KB motherboard and i3 3220T processor.
So, here comes most important question: Since server will be running most time idle, is it possible to achieve in idle less than 20, or better 15 Watts on Intel platform? i3 has TDP 35W - i dont know how much energy it actually uses.
Cant decide between ALIX and Intel platforms. I know that, with alix i will have 2 or 3 times lower power consumption than on Intel platform, but the second one gives me a lot more possibilities "what to do with it". Its impossible to me to calc how much energy intel platform can use - or if exist some better alternative. Anybody can give me some suggestions?