Need advice for energy effecient computer

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 8:53 am

I need to build 3rd computer for my Lan. The two other are so much more powerful now that 1,8 Ghz duron simply cannot keep up with rest two. So I plan to build very lower consumption system, that has only two fans: 120mm rear exhaust and 80mm fan on PSU.

This system doesn't need to run FEAR or anything like that. Just so it can do better job running the the games like: Unreal Tournament's, Command and Conquer Generals + Zero Hour expansion, Typhoon Rising and Team Fortress. Quake 2 and Serious Sam aren't that demanding games.

My requirements are: Low power consumption, with fairly powerful graphics, that can run decently 2 or 3 year old games and older than that. And of course, this has to be build cheaply:

Here is something that I have thought so far:

MB: ABIT AM2 NF6100 MATX, ASROCK AM2 CF1600 or MSI AM2 MCP61S (all seem decent and are cheap, no idea for power consumption. Socket area seems all pretty clear for Ninja )

CPU: AMD Sempron SDH1200DPBOX 2,1 Ghz 512Kb L2 Cache with 45W power consumption ( I think this is Sparta, not sure though but powerful for Sempron ^^ )

Cooler: Scythe Ninja Rev. B passive ( old one, will be re-used in this )

Memory 2 x 512mb Kingston Value 533 Mhz DDR 2

VGA card: MSI GF 7300GT PCI-E 256M DDR2 or Ati X1650 Pro

Case: Generic Silent Modded case with 2x 120mm fan (old one, will be re-used in this )

PSU: Hec 350W ( old one will be re-used in this )

I'd be grateful for any suggestion for graphics or for mainboard. All criticism or and comments would be welcomed as well.

bonestonne · Post by **bonestonne** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:21 am

Abit is a really good company, my friends E6600 is on one of their boards, no complaints and not a single hiccup in 7 months [then again, i haven't seen that box in a while either, but i haven't heard anything bad].

i have an MSI, i also have a Supermicro upstairs, but Abit is good and reputable.

why not 667mhz RAM?

as per the graphics card, i'm not entirely sure as i don't game, but the 7xxx cards i know are very good, i'll hopefully be getting a 7800GT soon, but i think you might have an easier time with the ATi. I've had less issues with drivers coming from an ATi card than nVidia. I wont even talk about my matrox though, its never given me an issue, but i haven't seen much by them lately past the triple head 2 go. if you're really shooting for older games, i think you could easily get away with a 6xxx model like, maybe a 6800 or so, most games back then could run fine with a 5xxx card, so i wouldn't say go too far overboard.

i've seen and used Asrock before, IMHO its just not all that great in terms of quality. most motherboards are decent quality, but when i had the Asrock [and i may still have it somewhere] i just didn't like it, it seemed much lighter than my other boards, and i didn't trust it with any cooler that wasn't just large enough for the socket. with my MSI board i do see a little flex with a ninja Rev A., but i'm going to fix that soon [with a piece of foam under the board for support], so its partially dependant on how you keep the computer set up.

lm · Post by lm » Sat Oct 13, 2007 2:20 pm

http://www.verkkokauppa.com/popups/prodinfo.php?id=1503

Kingston 1024MB 667MHZ DDR2 NON-ECC DIMM-muistimoduli, CL5.
21.90 â‚¬

http://www.verkkokauppa.com/popups/prodinfo.php?id=1516

Kingston 2048MB 667MHz DDR2 NON-ECC CL5 DIMM (2x1024MB KIT).
44.90 â‚¬

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 1:33 am

Hmmm, Kingston 667 is not bad price either. I'll see what Multitronic can offer, since Abit nforce 6100 costs there 32,90 â‚¬ as brand new with Abit full warranty etc.

I can get from my local retailer very little used ati X1650 Pro VGA card. In price less than new 7300 GT. That would be nice. Then I just have to change stock cooler into Arctic Cooling Accelero S2.

I have extra 120mm Nexus and Scythe S-flex D-model unused atm. I wonder which is better to use as exhaust fan, which would be just few CM's away from Ninja? Somehow Scythe S-flex ( its not ticking ) at 12v soft mounted sounds prertty decent option.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:45 am

Update in components:

Motherboard:
MSI AM2 RS690G
or
MSI AM2 AMD690G

I couldn't find any motherboard with nForce 7050 chipset in place I would usually order in reasonable price. I'd taken that then

CPU:
AMD Sempron LE-1200 (45W) with 512 KB L2 Cache.

CPU Cooler:
Scythe Ninja without fan. If that doesn't fit then Arctic Cooling Alpine 7.

Memory:
2 x 1 GB Kingston Value DDR 2 667 Mhz

VGA card:
Undecided. Local retailer has some second hand X1600 / X1650 series Ati cards. I won't close out nVidia 7300GT / 7600-series if I can find them cheaply.

VGA cooler:
Arctic Cooling Accelero S2.

Any comments, criticism and feedback is greatly appreciated.

protellect · Post by **protellect** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:49 am

I'd recommend a dual core, even for older games. The BE-2300 was 80$ US, and I think you can get it cheaper than that now.

RAM, I would get 2GB of the fastest stuff your motherboard supports, which should be DDR2-800, unless the cost is that much of an issue.

As far as video cards with low power consumption, you might take a look here;

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000662.html

Google turned up a lot of nice looking things with this search;
http://www.google.com/search?q=video+ca ... onsumption

VanWaGuy · Post by **VanWaGuy** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:04 am

I would be very tempted to get a passively cooled 8600. It is a little faster and a little newer (directX 10 for example), and it has been awhile since I looked, but last time I looked, did not cost that much more.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:41 pm

Dual core is overshot. Besides, the 45W Sempron is Sparta. So I will build a "Spartan" computer. Sounds bit weird but that is just me.

Besides I am changing system from 1,8 Ghz Duron, so I aswell keep my self in budget CPU's. Well, that's just my logic. 8600 GT passive cooled would definately be good but its way out of my budget atm.

Palindroman · Post by **Palindroman** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:21 pm

One the one hand it's good to reuse your old PSU, on the other it probably isn't very efficient. I would recommend an Antec 380W EarthWatts or else a 120W PicoPSU if you think of replacing the 350W.

Maybe you can also get a mobo with the relatively new 7025/7050 nVidia chipset. Boards by Abit, Biostar and Asrock are very efficient. Of course, boards with the 6100 (single chip) chipset are just as efficient and probably cheaper.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:51 pm

thanks for advice. I am also on very tight budget.

So far I have:

CPU: Sempron LE-1200 (45W)
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Alpine 7
RAM: 2 x 512mb Corsair C4: TWIN2X1024-5400C4 Matched pair ( was 4â‚¬'s more expensive than Kingston's value PC5400 so I thought what a heck )
Case: Hec/Compuce modified (old build )
PSU: Hec 350W (old build )
HDD: Seagate 7200.7 80GB Ide (old build )

Motherboard I do not know. Probably some mATX with 690G chipset. They're over 20 â‚¬'s cheaper than nForce 7025. If Money wouldn't be a problem I'd try nForce. Either Asus, Abit or MSI motherboard. I need to think.

VGA card: Well I will use integrated for now until I get more money. Local retailer has (little used) X1650 Pro. I do not know the price yet, but if its like 50 â‚¬'s or below its very tempting... pairing that with Accelero passive cooler...

kittle · Post by **kittle** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:03 pm

id be careful with using a used PSU in your new system. a new 80+ PSU will have all new components and may run more efficent than what you have now.

for video cards... I have an old 6800EN card .. its 2 years old and it runs current games just fine. not at max rez.. but high enough to be very playable. point being a 7xxx card would _almost_ be overkill. but if your building the system to last for a long time, the a 7xxx card would work quite well.

derekva · Post by **derekva** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:09 pm

Have you thought about going with a laptop CPU? I'm running an HTPC at home (running Vista) that's based on a T2300 and an AOpen i945GTm-VHL with 2GB of DDR2-667 SODIMMs and a 7600GT and I have no problem with Half-Life 2 and its ilk. I'm also considering replacing my desktop (currently an Opteron 175 system) with a Core Duo or Core2 Duo (mobile) CPU + the AOpen i975Xa-YDG system board. I've currently got it breadboarded out and am making sure it will be nice & stable.

You can find a T2300 on EBay for under $50.00 and you can get the i975Xa-YDG for around $110 if you search for it (I just paid $99 for mine, plus shipping). If you want a faster processor, you'll pay more (perhaps a lot more if you go with one of the high-end Core2 Duo processors like the T7600), but you can end up with a CPU with a 31W TDP that overclocks like mad.

-D

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:13 pm

I've thought using laptop CPU but they're very expensive in here and the sources I can use. Also the limitation in cooling is one thing that has made me abandon such things.

I could undervolt my Sempron if necessary. However I am thinking of eventually go into PicoPSU... I am wellaware of 80+ PSU's I am also aware of some of them not booting when there is not enough load. My Hec is very quiet and has served me 2 years without problems.

Edit: It took long time to decide between 690G/V and GeForce 6100 Chipset. 690 G would have cost more and would take few days to arrive. So I got Asus M2N-MX SE with GeForce 6100. I am surprised video quality of this motherboard. Its much better than I expected. Granted 690G/V would have been much more effectiver and been able to do decent gaming without all eye candy turned on.

Now I am line to get Ati X1650 Pro. So integrated chipset won't actually matter, since I planned to get separate card from the beginning.

Due issues with Ati drivers, I decided to go for alternative route and I got Passice 7300 GT with DDR2

So here are my new specs:
CPU: AMD Sempron LE-1200 Sparta
CPU cooler: Arctic Cooling Alpine 7
Memory: Corsair Twinx2-1024-PC5400C4
Motherboard: Asus M2N-MX SE
PSU: HEC 350W ( old one )
Case: Compucase C6-series, modded case ( Fan grills removed ) ( old one )
Case fan: Scythe S-flex D at 12v ( old one )
VGAcard: Asus GeForce 7300 GT 256mb DDR2 Silent
HDD: Seagate 7200.7 80 GB ide in Swap rack ( swapping between Linux and Windows is easier this way and no need to do dual boot up. No way to suspense this though so dual boot-up might be good option in future ) (( old one ))

Pretty powerful system: Aquamark 3: 48,509 points. Much, much more than my previous Duron build (which I sold to my friend and build this for 3rd computer ).

Need advice for energy effecient computer

Need advice for energy effecient computer

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