low-power computer

[Stacey]

Hi,

I'm looking for a very low-power computer to be used as a simple server.
Simply my focus is on:
* low-power (< 15W typical usage preferably)
* low-cost
* performance

It must actually run Windows 2000/2003. It will be used as a router with
some extra storage and running some simple applications (download apps,
FTP, stuff).
Currently I'm impressed by the power and cost of the VIA Epia mini-itx
boards (www.viaembedded.com), choosing a VE5000, having a Via Eden 533 MHz
(PII-266 equivelent) and power usage between 10 to 15 Watt (unfortunally
Via did not mention wether this usage was only the board (with I believe)
or includes external hardware, such as a HDD).
It costs arround EUR 100 for the board and CPU.

Does anyone have another good suggestion for such a system?

Why not get something like an old pentium 1 system, install linux for the
server OS and you'll have it basically for free? My "low power"
router/server is a computer I found on ths side of the road, put out for
trash (pentium 233) and mandrake 8.2. Anything faster than a pentium 100
should work great.

2 nic cards later, I've got a secure, free firewall/gateway/server.

 

[Joris Dobbelsteen]

Hi,

I'm looking for a very low-power computer to be used as a simple server.
Simply my focus is on:
* low-power (< 15W typical usage preferably)
* low-cost
* performance

It must actually run Windows 2000/2003. It will be used as a router with
some extra storage and running some simple applications (download apps, FTP,
stuff).
Currently I'm impressed by the power and cost of the VIA Epia mini-itx
boards (www.viaembedded.com), choosing a VE5000, having a Via Eden 533 MHz
(PII-266 equivelent) and power usage between 10 to 15 Watt (unfortunally Via
did not mention wether this usage was only the board (with I believe) or
includes external hardware, such as a HDD).
It costs arround EUR 100 for the board and CPU.

Does anyone have another good suggestion for such a system?

- Joris

 

[ECM]

Hi,

I'm looking for a very low-power computer to be used as a simple server.
Simply my focus is on:
* low-power (< 15W typical usage preferably)
* low-cost
* performance

It must actually run Windows 2000/2003. It will be used as a router with
some extra storage and running some simple applications (download apps, FTP,
stuff).
Currently I'm impressed by the power and cost of the VIA Epia mini-itx
boards (www.viaembedded.com), choosing a VE5000, having a Via Eden 533 MHz
(PII-266 equivelent) and power usage between 10 to 15 Watt (unfortunally Via
did not mention wether this usage was only the board (with I believe) or
includes external hardware, such as a HDD).
It costs arround EUR 100 for the board and CPU.

Does anyone have another good suggestion for such a system?

- Joris

I think you're on the right track with the Eden processor; I don't
know of any with lower power consumtion. Consider a notebook HDD for
your system; it'll be a bit slower, but I've got a couple which run
reliably on USB port power alone - so less than 1/2 watt (USB provides
a max. of 500 mW per port). You can get adapters for the notebook EIDE
connection so it can be used in a regular system.

Good Luck!
ECM

 

[ECM]

Stupid me. Thats 500 mA, not mW. At 5 volts, 500 mA is 2.5 watts (watts=amps*volts)

ECM

 

[philo]

Hi,

I'm looking for a very low-power computer to be used as a simple server.
Simply my focus is on:
* low-power (< 15W typical usage preferably)
* low-cost
* performance

It must actually run Windows 2000/2003. It will be used as a router with
some extra storage and running some simple applications (download apps, FTP,
stuff).
Currently I'm impressed by the power and cost of the VIA Epia mini-itx
boards (www.viaembedded.com), choosing a VE5000, having a Via Eden 533 MHz
(PII-266 equivelent) and power usage between 10 to 15 Watt (unfortunally Via
did not mention wether this usage was only the board (with I believe) or
includes external hardware, such as a HDD).
It costs arround EUR 100 for the board and CPU.

Does anyone have another good suggestion for such a system?

First off,
you are not going to be able to build a machine that can run win2k and have
it draw less than 15 watts
I recently was going to turn a p-200 into a linux router
but after doing the math , soon realized that even though the cost of
electricity would be fairly
moderate...over the course of a few years it would just be cheaper to go out
an purchase a router!

 

[Alien Zord]

"Joris Dobbelsteen" <[email protected]> wrote in message

I think you're on the right track with the Eden processor; I don't
know of any with lower power consumtion. Consider a notebook HDD for
your system; it'll be a bit slower, but I've got a couple which run
reliably on USB port power alone - so less than 1/2 watt (USB provides
a max. of 500 mW per port). You can get adapters for the notebook EIDE
connection so it can be used in a regular system.

Good Luck!
ECM

USB provides 500mA at 5V, that's 2.5W. Only notebook HDDs below 10GB can be
powered from a single USB port, most drives over 10GB require 1A at 5V.

 

[Alien Zord]

I'm looking for a very low-power computer to be used as a simple server.
Simply my focus is on:
* low-power (< 15W typical usage preferably)
* low-cost
* performance

It must actually run Windows 2000/2003. It will be used as a router with
some extra storage and running some simple applications (download apps, FTP,
stuff).
Currently I'm impressed by the power and cost of the VIA Epia mini-itx
boards (www.viaembedded.com), choosing a VE5000, having a Via Eden 533 MHz
(PII-266 equivelent) and power usage between 10 to 15 Watt (unfortunally Via
did not mention wether this usage was only the board (with I believe) or
includes external hardware, such as a HDD).
It costs arround EUR 100 for the board and CPU.

Does anyone have another good suggestion for such a system?

- Joris

Yes, EPIA is a good choice as its also cheap for what it does. A bit more
expensive systems but capable of running from a single 12V supply are Bona
products. We use them for industrial projects and so far found them pretty
reliable.
http://www.lex.com.tw/index1.htm
They make a number of boards that can take 3.5" and 2.5" HDDs and Compact
Flash cards.

VIA are also coming out with a 12V powered board, the EPIA-TC.
http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_tc_spec.jsp?motherboardId=201

 

[Alien Zord]

First off,
you are not going to be able to build a machine that can run win2k and have
it draw less than 15 watts
I recently was going to turn a p-200 into a linux router
but after doing the math , soon realized that even though the cost of
electricity would be fairly
moderate...over the course of a few years it would just be cheaper to go out
an purchase a router!

We use the Lex boards in display terminals and with Eden 533MHz processor,
256MB RAM and 2.5" HDD they run Win2k surprisingly well. 3W idle, 12W
playing mpeg movie, 22W running CPU-burnin utility. They also run Debian
Linux with Apache 2 as a web server pretty well. (The Light system in here
http://www.lex.com.tw/index1.htm

On the subject of Linux routers their tremendous advantages are in infinite
upgradeability, physically separating DMZ and protected networks and having
transparent proxy cache capability. And both Smoothwall or IPcop are
extremely easy to build and setup for next to nothing. Probably not that
suitable for home use but ideal for small businesses.

 

[Cyde Weys]

Alien Zord wrote:

We use the Lex boards in display terminals and with Eden 533MHz processor,
256MB RAM and 2.5" HDD they run Win2k surprisingly well. 3W idle, 12W
playing mpeg movie, 22W running CPU-burnin utility. They also run Debian
Linux with Apache 2 as a web server pretty well. (The Light system in here
http://www.lex.com.tw/index1.htm

On the subject of Linux routers their tremendous advantages are in infinite
upgradeability, physically separating DMZ and protected networks and having
transparent proxy cache capability. And both Smoothwall or IPcop are
extremely easy to build and setup for next to nothing. Probably not that
suitable for home use but ideal for small businesses.

I second that. For small businesses it may be useful, but in MY
environment it would be impossible to have a dedicated computer for a
router. Why? I live in a 10'x12' cell. With another person. And no,
I'm not in jail, I'm in college.

Besides, good routers don't even have fans in them (good as in
efficiently designed), so the only power they use is for the electrical
circuits. Even a PSU fan is gonna use more than that. And the fanless
router is nice and silent and fits on a little shelf underneath my desk.
A full-blown computer certainly wouldn't fit.

 

[Joris Dobbelsteen]

My old P-133 with PSU, 4 GB disk, NIC, SoundCard, Graphics is actually quite
large (mini-tower) and eats up 25W on average. It is much higher than the,
faster, Eden solution...

- Joris

(Here's someone who replied to the message before it actually existed.
Either you have phycic abilities or I do like timezones..)