Building a low cost and low power PC

[symonjfox]

I'd like to build up a new pc, using old, used material and/or low power components.

I have a lot of experience in PC world, but this is a kind of new project for me, my target is NOT to create a good multimedia PC, but a good PC, to stay on 24h a day, not consuming much power, spending less as I can.

I read lot of stuff about the VIA C3 processor and its integrations (EPIA boards), but where I live, it's hard to find and also the prices are high for a 1 Ghz processor.

Also Intel Centrino would be a good choice, but I'd like to buy/make an Home PC, not an expensive notebook.
I don't understand why Intel doesn't make a centrino for desktops instead of creating a 110W Prescott ... my illumination consumes less than it!

I want to spend less as I can (~200 €), so I'd like to buy all used components as I can from old PCs, not buying a new system.

The target is: Internet 24h, Firewall, create a small LAN with my current PC, and a TV out for Video playback on TV (without buying a Radeon 9700 for it).

I tried to find any good statistics about all PC processors and their respective power consumation, but these are all old guides or they don't tell me anything useful. Maybe anybody of you know one?

I discovered that my 0.13 Athlon XP 1800+ is one of the less power over 1Ghz: ~55 W in normal conditions.

Do you know what recent processor consume less power (maybe Celeron, Duron or others)?

Thanks for your suggestions.

[port66]

Athlon cpus with the barton core use the less power [1.65v]

if you buy a 540w power supply, system will have enough power for the future and will only use the power thats needed for the current specs

all pci & agp slots use 12v, ram uses around 3.3v

[Mole]

Well, you can try getting the slowest Duron CPU in your area. I think they should be able to run fanless.

Or, you can get an Athlon XP and run it at 100 MHz FBS instead of 133.

[symonjfox]

Ok, thanks.

To tell the truth, I found a comparation, and I noted that passing from a Pentium II (K6 2) to Pentium III (Athlon) there was a very big incresing of power consumation. And also the working temperature went up.

I need at least 1Ghz, thinking about the near future.

[Mnl]

Power dissipation for the P4 processor:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=483&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&PkgType=ALL

For the P3 processor:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=25&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&PkgType=ALL

And celeron:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=49&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&PkgType=ALL

And some AMD Data:

Duron -> XP2200+:

http://www20.tomshardware.com/cpu/20020610/thoroughbred-05.html

Palomino -> Barton:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030513/athlon_xp-04.html

:)

[symonjfox]

I readed the whole articles, and so I'm quite sorprised:

- I already got an Athlon XP 1800+ (Troughbred) that is one of the ones that consumes less power (over 1000 mhz).
- If I want to build such computer, I have to chose from these 4 options:

1- Duron 600 (one of the most cheap and most cool processors). It's not so powerful (I had it before buying an Athlon 900).
2- Keepin my Troughbred 1800+, so waiting for next upgrade and using the changed parts as base for the new one.
3- Buying a Celeron with 0.13 technology, that consumes more or less like my Athlon 1800+ but it should be a little faster (since it has SSE2 and it goes from 2000 to 2800 but it consumes about 70W at higher speed).
4- Via C3 processor with Nehemiah core (1 Ghz), maybe an EPIA board, so it would be an all integrated system.

Thanks for your replies.

I heard that new Athlon 64 has the cool and quiet technlogy that should save a lot of power as mobile processors do. Maybe that is another solution, but the Athlon 64 is still very expensive, and if I buy it, I do just for my usual PC, not for the new one!

[Mnl]

Hi symonjfox

I really think you should stick with something like a thoroughbred 1800+ - It consumes about the same amount of power as a celeron 2000 Mhz (just over 50 Watts), and for everyday use and especially games it is far more powerful than than the celeron. I am not sure how it performs when it comes to encoding, but still IMHO it really is the better buy.

[symonjfox]

Yes. I was thinking about it.

I think that I'll buy an Athlon 64 when its price drop down. I read a nice article about cool and quiet technlogy (http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20031216/yakumo_athlon64-02.html ) and it's a great think, an Athlon 64 working at 800MHz 1.10V when processing power is not needed is wonderful (for example my PC is always on, and 90% of its life is working at 3%).

[port66]

The higher the cpu fsb is the faster data can be read from the ram. having it high doesnt change the amount of power thats used, just the temperature.

duron are defunct and not made any more.

[symonjfox]

The higher the cpu fsb is the faster data can be read from the ram. having it high doesnt change the amount of power thats used, just the temperature. AFAIK it's not true. The parameters about power consumations are: building technology (0.13 nm consumes less power than 0.18 ones; also depends on the design of the processor -Try to see how much does a prescott assorb-); Voltage (1,8V; 1,5 V and so on); Frequency (the higher, the more hungry).

And also if a CPU is hotter, it's because it has converted more electrical power into heat.
duron are defunct and not made any moreI know, but if you read the whole thread, I'm going to buy USED hardware if needed.

[sh0dan]

I don't know much about Intel CPU's, so I'll leave that to the ones that do.

Either go for a low-clocked Athlon XP-M, or for a bit more performance go for an Athlon XP 2500 (Barton core, 166Mhz), and clock it down. The 512KB cache might help compensate for the lower FSB speed.

[Pyscrow]

I want to spend less as I can (~200 €), so I'd like to buy all used components as I can from old PCs, not buying a new system.
[/B]

Dont know what the prices of a new box are over there, but for slightly more than what you quote as your budget, you can buy a new celeron 2.6 in Australia ($450 to 500 Australian dollars) (complete box, but no monitor, keyboard,OS etc etc)

[symonjfox]

Originally posted by Pyscrow
Dont know what the prices of a new box are over there, but for slightly more than what you quote as your budget, you can buy a new celeron 2.6 in Australia ($450 to 500 Australian dollars) (complete box, but no monitor, keyboard,OS etc etc) Yes, I know. I wanted to say that I spend ~200€ ONLY if I buy the EPIA board (that has this price here) and I'll recycle some old parts from my friend's PC.

OT
Also there will be an "exhibition" (don't know how traslate "fiera") near where I live and there I can find untested material at very low price. For example untested Hard disks (1-5 €), repared keyboards and other stuff. A friend of mine buyed lots of things and all worked.

[stax76]

why do you want to run it 24h? Recently I set up a PC for DVB recording. It wakes up everyday at the same time, checks if there is something to record (I wrote a program for this) and shuts down after there is nothing more to record. It's even possible to program when it should wakeup but the program for this (blackbird's wakeup-tools) don't work with my K7S5a. I will use the PC also for encoding the recordings but everything else like watching video, music, programming, surfing etc. does the main PC which is in standby mode when not used, takes only a few seconds to wake up

[symonjfox]

Well, I used to let my PC download from internet (since I have a DSL connection with no time limits) when I work, and when I sleep (but the 3 fans it has make a lot of noise, so I shut it down).

Also this PC will be stored in another room, connected to my TV, so it would become also a good Divx/Xvid player (but don't want to buy a standalone just for that).

I know that in Doom9 forum we used to talk about Video compression and multimedia, but this PC won't do these tasks. It will be a firewall, and sometimes a multimedia player (that can support ALL formats I know).

And also is a good thing when I want to use my pc and someone else in my family wants to use the other, don't you think so?