DuckieHo

In my WHS box, I am currently running a ECS 6100SM-M and Athlon 64 3500+ AM2 (62w TDP). I am getting a Gigabit router and the motherboard supports only 100Mbs. Before you say anything, I do need Gigabit LAN to sync 40GB of music and HD video. Also, I wish to reduce power consumption so I can run completely passively. I have a few idea but would like to see what else you can come up with.



So... what is the best motherboard+CPU combo you can come up with? Requirements:
* Less than $100 total
* Energy Efficient (including chipset)
* Gigabit LAN
* mATX formfactor
* 4 SATA ports
* CPU is at least 1.8GHz

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SeanEE89

These work for you?

AMD Athlon 64 LE-1600 2.2GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Single-Core Processor

ASUS M2A-VM AM2 AMD 690G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

DuckieHo

What's the power consumption of the 690G?

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To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single/Non-Modular Rail PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

SeanEE89

I believe it takes between 47w - 57w when idle depending on whether Cool N Quiet is enabled. and I think it peaks at 117w during load.

shinji2k

Here's a comparison between the 690G and the 7050(630a) in terms of power consumption. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...ar_tf7050-m2/8. Seems to just be splitting hairs to me when you use IGP. I think I would go for the AMD Sempron LE-1150 2.GHz for $36 shipped. And then I'm not sure on the mobo but something like this ECS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135086. Here's a review for a 7025 paired with a X2 3600+ Brissy hitting <70W during Orthos small fft: http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...highlight=7025

edit- Ignore the mobo suggestion, no gigabit lan. PSUs I can do, mobos thats another story.

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DuckieHo

Thanks for the review... just what I needed to make sure. The 690G, 7050, and G965 all consume the same amount of power so it doesn't matter. Does anyone have a review of the newer chipsets this year?

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To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single/Non-Modular Rail PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

shinji2k

I'm back . The 780g has noticeably reduced power consumption at idle (~25%) as seen here: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/676/11/. The 780g igp also has up to 50% increased performance compared to the 690g igp. The downside is the 780g may be outside of your budget. Although, this ECS should almost be in budget: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135075

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shinji2k

I was bored so I did some research on the Intel side. Good comparisons are hard to come by. It seems, like the AMD boards, that the G31/33/35 and 630i chipsets all have about the same idle and load power consumption. According to this review: http://techreport.com/articles.x/14261/13, load on the G35 and 780G are the same with idle being lower for the 780G Amd platform tested. Since the 780G was a little better at idle compared to the other AMDs but same at load, I think that the Intel G33/35 and 630i have similar power envelopes compared to the AMD 630a and 690G with the 780G being better at idle. So ignoring IGP performance, I'd say there are lots of options for <$100 combos with a Sempron 2GHz or a Celery 1.8GHz. If IGP performance counts as far as I can tell, here is how I see it:
690G (ATI 1250) < 630a/i (nVidia 7xxx) < 780G (ATI 3200 IGP)
I'm not sure were to put the Intel 3100 and 3500 for the G31/33/35. I'm thinking the 3500 is similar to nVidia's 7xxx and the 3100 to be around the ATI 1250, it's pretty hard finding direct reviews.

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DuckieHo

Hmm... some reading time for me....

Isn't there a stripped down version of the 780G? I don't need a good IGP since this is a headless server.

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To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single/Non-Modular Rail PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular

FearMeansControl

Duckie, I just recently (within the past week) put together a small server with a celeron 430 and the Intel DG33TL board (I've never bought an Intel board in my life, this came with the Intel Retailer deal last year)

Anywho, the celeron is a 35 watt piece.. I also looked into the Via C&'s, but the Intel gives you more bang-per-watt imo. Its running Server 2003 flawlessly with working RAID 1 (If you're comfortable doing a little slipstreaming), and the real bonus si that its got the Intel ethernet chipset which completely blows away most onboards. (Yes, I'm one of those people that spends $40 on Intel gigE cards, because they are that good )

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