CPU/Chipset for a small factor headless server?

stoiss · Post by **stoiss** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 3:46 pm

Hi and greetings to you all seeing that this is my first post here

I'm looking for an upgrade to my old small factor server. It will most likely be one of those NetTops that have become available in the last couple of years.

The current setup is a morex itx case, Via Epia 5000 motherboard, 512mb ram and a 60Gig ATA HD, 100mbit ethernet, running at around 15W (idle).

Power is quite expensive where I live (~0.35USD/kWh) so I would very much like to keep the low power usage of the old server.

These are the CPU/chipset combinations I most often see in NetTop PCs:

Atom Z510 (2W) + US15W (2.3W)
Atom D510 (13W) + NM10 (2.1W)
Atom 330 (8W) + Nvidia ION (12W)

Which one of these would you recommend for a headless server with min. 300GB SATA HD, 1Gig RAM, 1Gb Ethernet and preferably a power consumption of no more than 15W (idle)?

I will probably try to under clock and under volt the chipset to reduce the power consumption even more.

Suggestions and recommendations would be appreciated

stoiss

P.S. Does anyone have an idea how AMDs new Fusion platform will compare to the listed CPU/chipsets?

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:11 pm

Welcome to SPCR!

Since you're going headless & low power, the extra video performance and extra power consumption of the ION puts it out of the running, no?

The Atom Z510 (2W) + US15W (2.3W) looks ideal for your needs. I would not bother trying to undervolt this.

Antec Fusion is going to be more useful for nettops that are desktop replacements. They will have better video performance and a bit high power draw.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 7:33 pm

I have seen single core with hyperthreading N series Atom's on mini-itx boards.

Pair that with 1 gig ddr3 memory and linux, I cant imagine less wattage for a workable device. As well as cheap

You need a case for it, but it's sure the least power option. Serving doesnt need that much power. Dual core im guessing is overkill. A little atom 1.6hz with 1 gig ram does a lot.

Personally, I would go with a D510 as the idle is negligble difference between these offerings. Load it uses a lot more than a Z series 1.1ghz of course. The D510 has a much faster bus. I dont know if that will help you or not.

What are you serving??

Also, do you want to use linux 64 bit? that will put you into into the new D500 series. I havent seen a N450 or N455 yet in a net-top or mini-itx system yet. That would be sweet for 64 bit linux.

stoiss · Post by **stoiss** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 3:07 am

I'm probably a bit limited in my choices where I live. People in the US always seem to have a much better selection at lower prices.

The only NetTop I have seen using the Atom Z510 is the Fit-PC2 and it comes out a bit more expensive when comparing it to other NetTops.

The MSI WindBOX line of NetTops comes out at a fairly low price (320GB HD and 2GB RAM included) so I may opt for this one in the end.

The server is running Ubuntu server edition (none of the BSD flavors support my current Via CPU/chipset) and is used primarily for HTTP, Proxy, Mail, FW, Torrent. I haven't seen it cap the CPU in the current setup apart from kernel compilations (don't do these too often). I doubt a newer system will have any issues here.
A 64 linux distro will certainly be an option in a future setup.

The main reason for upgrading is that the 60GB HD is getting a bit too small and larger ATA HDs are becoming rare and expensive compared to SATA HDs.

A Gigabit ethernet would also be a nice addition.

What I'm also wondering is if there are any up coming CPU/chipsets on the horizon I should consider and maybe postpone my purchase.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sat Sep 11, 2010 7:34 am

if you got a D510 or D525, there is only Ion 2 coming up on nettop's and that doesnt do much for you aside from being a little more power effecient.

The big change is being initiated currently:

DDR3
EMT64 for 64 bit os
and dual cores 1.66-1.8 for a total of 4 threads. That is a super strong cpu.
Ion 2 - has ability to switch seemlessly between Intel graphics and ion 2 in various scenarios when the ion will keep being ion and not chill out as easily.... which is useless for your headless.

There will not be anything this winter, and I dont see much changing from a year from now if you have those latest features.

I dont know when atom would switch to 32nm. I know AMD is making a Bobcat system that would probably beat out Atom but not for what youre doing.

ilovejedd · Post by **ilovejedd** » Sat Sep 11, 2010 9:31 am

~El~Jefe~ wrote:if you got a D510 or D525, there is only Ion 2 coming up on nettop's and that doesnt do much for you aside from being a little more power efficient.

Ion 2 - has ability to switch seemlessly between Intel graphics and ion 2 in various scenarios when the ion will keep being ion and not chill out as easily.... which is useless for your headless.

There's Optimus on the ION 2? That's news to me. From the reviews I've read, it seems the ION 2 actually adds a couple of watts to the D510's power consumption instead of decreasing it. The original ION decreased the power consumption on the Atom because it replaced the chipset. Unfortunately, NVIDIA can't do the same with Pineview given the way Intel implemented it.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sat Sep 11, 2010 1:04 pm

it decreases power consumption when you are using the computer vs sitting there. It has optimus, yes. It flips back and forth as needed, saving you power. It is one of those things where people used to wonder if an e8400 Intel chip is faster vs an AMD 720BE 3x core. The tests never showed how instantaneously the 720be was in response. Kind of an odd analogy I know. But yeah, the ion 2 is more realisticly power efficient while you use it. As a headless server, uses more, or just sitting there doing crap on a shelf for a benchmark website, uses more. I cant see that being a large difference. I mean, the dual core chip will use more than the graphics core. Least power is like a n455 for the current generation I would think, and that has ddr3 which is also less power. has some decent bandwidth, might be good for serving right? shrug

I would get a DDR3 version of whatever I could find if that's an option.

dancingsnails · Post by **dancingsnails** » Sat Sep 11, 2010 4:36 pm

I'm waiting for the boxd525mw board to come out.
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Innovation- ... 534&sr=8-1

With one of those 4gb high density ddr3 memory modules, it should be pretty low power.

ilovejedd · Post by **ilovejedd** » Sat Sep 11, 2010 5:07 pm

dancingsnails wrote:I'm waiting for the boxd525mw board to come out.
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Innovation- ... 534&sr=8-1

With one of those 4gb high density ddr3 memory modules, it should be pretty low power.

Darn you...

And here I was getting all ready to order a D510MO for my DVR backend... Looks like I'm going to wait again.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sat Sep 11, 2010 11:14 pm

holy crap that's awesome

too bad it doesnt have a 8-16x pci-e slot on it. has no dvi or hdmi out.