Quote:
Originally Posted by
jsc1973 
To be honest, an FX-4100 will probably draw as much power as an i7-920 would. Bulldozer is not exactly a power-efficient architecture. And the power draw from a desktop computer is really overrated, anyway. If you want to save on your electric bill, turn the thermostat up when you're not home and make sure that all your light bulbs are energy-efficient models.
I'd just keep what I have, and save some cash to get that Nexus 7 if you really want one.
I wasn't expecting huge power saving from going to an i7-920 to FX-4100, but I had no idea that bulldozer was considered pretty bad on power draw/efficiency. I definitely plan to downgrade the GPU, that will give me some good savings in heat/power.
I haven't started an appraisal thread yet or looked into it too much... But the parts that would be directly replaced would be: i7-920, Gigabyte motherboard (have to look up the model number soon) and a Corsair H50.
I figured I could maybe net $100-110 off the i7, $30-$50 off the motherboard and ~$30 off the H50. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I will definitely look into how much I can net soon...
I do have my i7 down fairly low. Core voltage is a little over 1.025 I believe.
On another note, I've done just about everything to cut power usage. We had our old AC unit replaced with a slightly better newer one and that helped a bit. We keep it around 78-82 during the day and 76-78 at night and I always turn it up to 84-85 when we leave. I even have my 5870 undervolted/clocked lol. There is only so much I can do when I live in an apartment facing the sun, the top story, with paper walls and windows and a not very efficient AC unit in the Texas summer hah. Looking at about $110/month in electricity for a 2 bedroom with 2 people. We're not rich so our apartment is low end... I do actually have 10W efficient bulbs in my room (the place I am 99% of the time in my apartment), I only use one and it lights up the hole room and is almost cool to the touch!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
xxbassplayerxx
If you want to take a step down, I'd consider going to a dual core CPU like the i3 2100 (or the new IB dual core). Microcenter will probably have some great deals there and they're extremely power efficient. Keep in mind that although IB runs hotter, it's actually putting off
less heat.
Beyond that, the step to a lower end 7000 series should be a great help... Much more efficient and it puts off a lot less heat.
I looked at the i3's for a friends build (we're going with the microcenter FX-4100 combo for his, he is on an extreme budget and isn't a hardcore anything) and it is a solid CPU. I guess the only problem I see is the i3-2100 is $90 at microcenter (good deal, don't get me wrong) and then I'd have to get a new motherboard to go with it for ~$50.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bit_reaper
Honestly down grading to a fx4100 from a 920 is a bad idea as you will not get that much money of the old system. You want cooler running with less heat/ power draw? Swap out that 5870 and then just down clock/volt the I7 some more. You can go as extreme as you want on the down clock and if you go to far or for some reason need more power again its very simple to turn it up again in the bios.
The biggest concern is how much I can get out of the old system and how cheap I can get the CPU + MOBO. I don't expect huge power savings if any from the CPU transition, most of that will come from the GPU change.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
xxbassplayerxx
Another thing to consider, you could always disable cores on the 920. Kick it down to a dual core with/without HT for the summer months. it won't be quite as efficient as the new stuff but it will definitely lower the cost of upgrading and put off much less heat.
I'll look into that, definitely a good idea. Didn't think of that. Though I'm not TOO concerned with my system power draw. While playing DOTA 2 The entire setup (PC, monitor and speakers) is drawing about 220W. Pretty darn good if you ask me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
RandomK
Trinity APUs should be out very soon ("August 2012") and they should have the CPU/GPU horsepower you're looking for in a comparatively more efficient package. You'd get a lot more GPU than with an i3 setup plus, Tom's hardware shows
total system power usage around 100w for a Trinity based system:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224-20.html.
Pricing for a 4100+mobo+7770 would probably be comparable to a Trinity+mobo setup and it would produce far less heat. You could even get an unlocked "K" APU so you could overclock when the mood strikes you and dial it back down when you just need to work on a spreadsheet or browse the internet.
Food for thought...
I'd like to keep the power of at least an HD 7770, last I looked the APU's haven't been that good. I haven't looked into the new ones too much though.
I have managed to secure a used 7850 from a reputable member for $190 shipped, so I got the GPU part taken care off, the most important part of the plan. $190 sounds like a good deal huh?
Edited by Dezixn - 6/26/12 at 11:36am
