Palindroman wrote:
AFAIK these are the most power efficient mobo's for AM2, based on the nVidia 7050/630a chipset:
Asrock AliveNF7G-HDready
Abit AN-M2(HD) (...)
First of all, sorry for digging this thread up.
I was wondering if this is still true.
I am starting to plan for a NAS device (WHS-based), and as such, I'd like to keep the power draw as close to 0 as possible (:lol:).
HDDs will be WD10EADSs (or WD20EADS, if those become available at decent prices in the meanwhile), and I'll most definetely go with simple DDR2-800 sticks (probably 2x2GB, since I'll be moving large files, and I don't want to limit transfer performance by the lack of memory. Though I might consider 1x2GB or 2x1GB.
So, appart from having to know if WHS would work ok with say a 160GB or 250GB 2.5'' system drive, plus 2xGP (for backup), I still have to choose a CPU and a motherboard.
I have recently seen the über-low power draws on standard hardware the G31+45nm can cough up (over at Anandtech). However, those are really expensive parts, and AMD seems to actually be able to deliver better on this front (not sure on G31+45nm underclocking ability, too), with a substantial price difference. Not to mention the ICH7 has a rather serious bandwidth limitation (2x80MBps per pair of ports seems to be the max, tested with several 945G/GZ boards).
This means that AMD will be the way to go (right?), albeit load power values can be on the high side (luckily, not that much power will be needed anyway...).
So, despite craving for a dual-core CPU (ever since I got my first one, I seem not to be able to turn back...

), it seems a single-core one would be the best option. That being said, which one do you thing would be better, power-wise: Sempron LE-1250 or Athlon 1620? These seem to be the most efficient ones available (I never actually owned an AMD CPU, so be gentle with me, please, if I'm not right).
Also, since 2GHz+ is overkill anyway for just about any home server, be it either NAS or router (I probably have the most powerful, power-hungry home router/NAS/multipurpose server EVER, a 945GZ-based Pentium D 805 box... lol), undercloking and undervolting will also play a part on lowering power draw. Which means I need a good mobo for this, hence the question I asked in the beginning of the post.
I'd like to have as many SATA ports as possible (since it will be a NAS... I have to think ahead), and right now there are only a couple of chipsets that can handle more than 4 (which is fine, actually, but it only leaves me one available once I install the system drive and the storage drives, and that worries me, I'd like to skip extra SATA adapters, if possible...), namely 740G, 780G (way too expensive, and not that low power), 790GX (ditto) and 8x00 (which also tend to be rather expensive). However, if power figures are too different, I think I could handle a 4-port board (and the extra 2- or 4-port controller shouldn't draw that much, right?).
Right now, I think I can get my hands on either the ALiveNF7G-HDready, or the newer AliveNF7G-FullHD R3.0 (cheapest), as well as the Abit AN-M2HD and the 740G by Gigabyte (most expensive). The cheapest is the AliveNF7G-FullHD R3.0, at about €45. The other three run for around €60~€65, which is not that bad. Since the LE-1250 is about €30, it seems a great deal. (Btw, just for comparison, an E1200+GA-G31M-S2L runs for about €90, €50+40)
In short, which one of these should I go with? The two ASRock boards are very different on the layout department, so I don't know if the same low power figures can be achieved with the R3 (especially since it seems to be a 4-phase part, as all X4 are supported); it lacks the Firewire controller, though, which drops power consumption...
Or, would I be better off with something completely different?
(yes, Monty Python reference here... lol)
Thanks in advance for you input on this one.
Cheers.
Miguel