Some suggestion to build a low power consumption system

victorlong · Post by **victorlong** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:21 am

CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4850e underclock to 1.6GHz and undervoltage to 1.00V
Motherboard: ASUS MINI M2NC51-AR Mini ITX
Memory: 2G DDRIIx1
Hard Drive: 160G SATA
Video Card: ASUS EAH3450/DI/256M Radeon HD 3450 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Low Profile Video Card

Main Purpose:
BT/Emule download
HTPC to SONY 52-inch LCD 1080P TV

The motherboard integrates a video chipset, normally I prefer to using this integrated video chip. If I need to watch downloaded Bluray movies, I will activate the independent video card to play. Therefore, I can save some power if I am just downloading.

Please give some suggestions or comments. Also does someone know how much wattage this machine could take when it just download 24X7?

lowpowercomputing · Post by **lowpowercomputing** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 12:24 pm

Sounds okay. Maybe you can try to undervolt even more but the one you're planning is quite good already.

Is the hard drive a 3.5" or a 2.5" one? If 3.5" then a 2.5" one will save a couple of watts, but it'll be slower than a 3.5" drive.

About the video card - I understand you may need it as the mobo only has a GeForce 6150. Are you limited to this particular mobo? A mini-ITX 780G motherboard would be able to play Blu-Ray movies using the IGP, eliminating the need for the separate graphics card which surely draws a couple of watts. I'd go for a 780G motherboard and solely use the IGP.

As for the power consumption - if you use an efficient PSU (e.g. a picoPSU), idle power consumption (I don't know if BT/emule stresses the CPU) should be around 30 to 40 watts, maybe even less than 30.

victorlong · Post by **victorlong** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:18 pm

lowpowercomputing wrote:Sounds okay. Maybe you can try to undervolt even more but the one you're planning is quite good already.

Is the hard drive a 3.5" or a 2.5" one? If 3.5" then a 2.5" one will save a couple of watts, but it'll be slower than a 3.5" drive.

About the video card - I understand you may need it as the mobo only has a GeForce 6150. Are you limited to this particular mobo? A mini-ITX 780G motherboard would be able to play Blu-Ray movies using the IGP, eliminating the need for the separate graphics card which surely draws a couple of watts. I'd go for a 780G motherboard and solely use the IGP.

As for the power consumption - if you use an efficient PSU (e.g. a picoPSU), idle power consumption (I don't know if BT/emule stresses the CPU) should be around 30 to 40 watts, maybe even less than 30.

thank you

my hard drive is 3.5'', a used one. I don't want to buy a new one though. I also have a laptop hard drive, but the capacity is so small, only 40G. A ordinary Bluray remux will go beyond this size.

I also think about a IGP mobo, such as 780G, 790G or MPC78 mobos. But if I want to buy an ITX mobo, then I don't have too many choices. An ITX 780G would cost me $150. An ITX plus a HD 3450 video card totally cost $60, also I will have a lot of space to put my hard drive in a slim case.

Now I am watching & seeing an M-ATX 780G mobo, if the price drops, I will buy it then to replace that ITX+3450 combo deal.

Pico is so expensive that I can't afford. I try to curtail my budget now.