Low power PC

[bsalinux]

Hi All,

Currently I'm using a Intel P3 800 + Intel D815EPFV based system as a
trivial home server. The main objective to use an older cpu is to run
at low power. The machine operates between 45watts to 55 watts @ 120
volts depending on the hard drive usage. I'm completely satisfied with
the performance of the machine but a bit concerned about the power
usage. All the peripherals are turned off except two hard drives,
network, video. The power supply I'm using is an ATX 300W from SPI.

I'm thinking about replacing it with a AMD sempron based solution. As
I have never used a sempron CPU before, I would like to invite
comments from power concerned users.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Conor]

Hi All,

Currently I'm using a Intel P3 800 + Intel D815EPFV based system as a
trivial home server. The main objective to use an older cpu is to run
at low power. The machine operates between 45watts to 55 watts @ 120
volts depending on the hard drive usage. I'm completely satisfied with
the performance of the machine but a bit concerned about the power
usage. All the peripherals are turned off except two hard drives,
network, video. The power supply I'm using is an ATX 300W from SPI.

I'm thinking about replacing it with a AMD sempron based solution. As
I have never used a sempron CPU before, I would like to invite
comments from power concerned users.

Any input would be appreciated.

Is there any reason that low power consumption is that critical?

What about using a laptop? Plenty of dirt cheap ones with broken
screens. Hook a monitor up to it to set it up and you're off.

I've sold a few laptops with duff screens to people who have used them
for servers.

 

[arduous]

Hi Conor,

Is there any reason that low power consumption is that critical?

No specific reason just so save on electric bill

What about using a laptop? Plenty of dirt cheap ones with broken
screens. Hook a monitor up to it to set it up and you're off.

I agree, but I need storage that laptop can't provide easily. I use
that server for temp storage so It has 2x 250GB drives. I have a few
laptops but have to attach usb storage.

I've sold a few laptops with duff screens to people who have used them
for servers.

The reason I thought of sempron is that AMD touts using lower power
than new intel P4 CPUs. I already have a brand new board that I got
free in a vendor seminar and it is sempron compatible.

Thanks.

 

[John Weiss]

I agree, but I need storage that laptop can't provide easily. I use
that server for temp storage so It has 2x 250GB drives. I have a few
laptops but have to attach usb storage.

So? A USB2 or Firewire port and a single 500+ GB HD will take care of that, at
little more power consumption than an internal HD. A 100 Mbps or GB Ethernet
connection to a server will provide more...

The reason I thought of sempron is that AMD touts using lower power
than new intel P4 CPUs. I already have a brand new board that I got
free in a vendor seminar and it is sempron compatible.

Which socket? Semprons come in 754 (old) and AM2 (newer) varieties. You can
get a 2 GHz Sempron 3500+ (SDD3500CBNOX or SDD3500IAA2CN) that uses only 35
watts max (http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=126).

However, you can put a dual-core, 2 GHz Athlon 3800+ that also peaks at 35
watts in the same socket
(http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=56). You get the
second core, 4x the L2 cache, and a 25% faster memory bus...

 

[bsalinux]

Thanks John,

So? A USB2 or Firewire port and a single 500+ GB HD will take care of that, at
little more power consumption than an internal HD. A 100 Mbps or GB Ethernet
connection to a server will provide more...

yeah, it is a good approach and it will take less space too

Which socket? Semprons come in 754 (old) and AM2 (newer) varieties. You can
get a 2 GHz Sempron 3500+ (SDD3500CBNOX or SDD3500IAA2CN) that uses only 35
watts max (http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=126).

I have the socket 754 mobo. I find that the oem cpu is around $25

However, you can put a dual-core, 2 GHz Athlon 3800+ that also peaks at 35
watts in the same socket
(http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=56). You get the
second core, 4x the L2 cache, and a 25% faster memory bus...

Well, the motherboard that I have is NF4K8AB (foxcon) and it would not
support dual core (I think). The maximum it supports is Athlon 64
3700+ (2.4G). But the CPU is harder to find than a semperon
SDA3100AIO3BX for around $25.

To compare with sempron, I tried to find the wattage for my existing
p3 but couldn't find the watt spec.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[bsalinux]

Looks like the socket AM2 processors have lower wattage than the
socket 754 CPUs!

Thanks.

 

[John Weiss]

I have the socket 754 mobo. I find that the oem cpu is around $25

Well, the motherboard that I have is NF4K8AB (foxcon) and it would not
support dual core (I think). The maximum it supports is Athlon 64
3700+ (2.4G). But the CPU is harder to find than a semperon
SDA3100AIO3BX for around $25.

The specs for S754 AMD CPUs are here:
http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUResult.aspx?f1=&f2=&f3=&f4=&f5=754&f6=&f7=&f8=&f9=1600&

Your best buy for power consumption is an Athlon 64 3000+ at 51 watts, shown at
http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUResult.aspx?f1=&f2=&f3=&f4=&f5=754&f6=&f7=&f8=&f9=1600&

To compare with sempron, I tried to find the wattage for my existing
p3 but couldn't find the watt spec.

Best I could find is
http://www.intel.com/support/processors/pentiumiii/xeon/sb/CS-022664.htm#7 that
shows 55-75 watts for the P3 Xeon. I suspect the regular P3 is similar.

I think you would be better off finding a new MoBo, rather than trying to build
an obsolete 754 system just because you have a "free" MoBo...

 

[John Weiss]

Looks like the socket AM2 processors have lower wattage than the
socket 754 CPUs!

Isn't new technology great!

 

[Ken]

The reason I thought of sempron is that AMD touts using
lower power than new intel P4 CPUs.

Intel P4 CPUs are not new! They are obsolete now.

 

[Chris Hill]

Hi All,

Currently I'm using a Intel P3 800 + Intel D815EPFV based system as a
trivial home server. The main objective to use an older cpu is to run
at low power. The machine operates between 45watts to 55 watts @ 120
volts depending on the hard drive usage. I'm completely satisfied with
the performance of the machine but a bit concerned about the power
usage. All the peripherals are turned off except two hard drives,
network, video. The power supply I'm using is an ATX 300W from SPI.

I'm thinking about replacing it with a AMD sempron based solution. As
I have never used a sempron CPU before, I would like to invite
comments from power concerned users.

I think anything you are likely to build of desktop components will
use more power than what you're using. Only thing I've found that
uses less is my little sempron notebook which uses 25w with the screen
turned off.

 

[bsalinux]

Thanks John,

By using the link that you sent me and reverse traversing it I found
that P3 800EB takes around 21 watts

http://www.intel.com/support/processors/pentiumiii/sb/CS-007589.htm

So switching to sempron won't help much. With sempron, I'll surely get
more processing power than I need.

I would then try to scale down my power supply from 300W to 250 watt
or a 200 watt and minus one drive.

Thanks.

 

[bsalinux]

They are still being made and are available from distribution.

 

[bsalinux]

Thanks for the input Chris. I think that I'll drop the idea of going
with sempron as it won't fulfill my objective. ;-)

Thanks.

 

[John Weiss]

I would then try to scale down my power supply from 300W to 250 watt
or a 200 watt and minus one drive.

Why? The PS only uses as much power as the components draw, plus overhead
depending on its efficiency. It is more important to get an efficient PS, and
size it so you are running in its "sweet spot" (40-60% of rated capacity) so
you get best efficiency.

 

[bsalinux]

Yeah, switchers do that. The power supply that I'm using is from SPI
(sparkle power) and I believe that it is PFC corrected. On all the
desktops that I build I prefer SPI as they are well built and
economically priced as compared to cooler master, pc power and
cooling, antec, delta, etc.

Maybe I could save a few watts from the switching overhead.

Thanks.

 

[biggerdigger]

How about a system with an ITX motherboard? They are fast enough to
serve disks, and can function as proxy, firewall, nat router etc.. Put
the disks into standby whenever they are idle and you have a really
cool and quiet system Peace.
http://www.mini-box.com/

 

[geoff]

Is there any reason that low power consumption is that critical?

No specific reason just so save on electric bill

That makes no sense, if your electric bill is too high, there are many
things one can do that would have a big effect. A low power pc is not one
of them.

-g

 

[bsalinux]

This email group is for home built PCs, am I missing anything?

 

[bsalinux]

Thanks for the nice link and suggestion, that is the exact application
that I'm running on my P3 Linux box.

 

[John Doe]

This email group is for home built PCs, am I missing anything?

Saying that a PC isn't going to significantly increase your
electricity bill is on topic even for this thread.