Want to build a good Energy saving PC

[ixos]

Right, i am thinking of putting together a really good energy saving PC. One that has ok features but is not power hungry.

First off, which CPU do i go for? AMD or Intel? I am not into gaming on the pc, only the console. I usually only use a pc for looking around different hardware sites, building and DIY sites, Hexus, of course and some shopping. Plus i do the usual Word processing and thats about it. The wife doesn't use the pc for anything except shopping! lol

So, i want an energy efficient PC. One that doesn't draw much power. One that can still run smoothly. Also, i would be using my 17" TFT with built in speakers too.

Not sure where to start!! My main aim is to lower power consumption but still have a nice PC. I wouldn't want a separate graphics card so a motherboard with onboard would be fine.

As for a case, the smaller the better i suppose. But has good cooling. Help?


Regards

[GoNz0]

most cpu's and decent motherboards will throttle the cpu speed and drop the power when its under low use, so a good PSU can be key to this. a couple of green hard drives and leaving the power settings to turn off unused devices will all help. you can still have a cracking pc should you want to game. even the modern graphics cards like the gtx280 nvidia card throttle back to minimal speeds along with power draw.

[Andy3536]

Word processing, web browsing and shopping. Just get one of these and be done with it, you'll never get a PC that draws less power.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/605946...e/Product.html

[ixos]

Word processing, web browsing and shopping. Just get one of these and be done with it, you'll never get a PC that draws less power.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/605946...e/Product.html

Looks promising! Can the memory be upgraded to 2 gig?

[Georgy291]

why do you need to?

i got 6gig atm and my record is only to load it up to 30% .....wait thats slightly over 2 gig never mind

[arthurleung]

If looking at performance per Watt, Atom is certainly NOT a good choice.
Personally I believe Core2Duo T8xxx/T9xxx/P8xxx/P9xxx is the most efficient CPU out there.

[ixos]

If looking at performance per Watt, Atom is certainly NOT a good choice.
Personally I believe Core2Duo T8xxx/T9xxx/P8xxx/P9xxx is the most efficient CPU out there.

Thing is, i would have to build my own then! Yikes! where does one start! I quite like the EEE one. The shape / size etc. I am not after anything with loads of grunt. Has to look nice and perforn well. Never built a tiny PC before so wouldn't have a clue about any of the parts!

[Englander]

Thing is, i would have to build my own then! Yikes! here does one start! I quite like the EEE one. The shape / size etc. I am not after anything with loads of grunt. Has to look nice and perforn well. Never built a tiny PC before so wouldn't have a clue about any of the parts!

Building a PC isn't actually that complicated. There are a million and one well illustrated guides on the internet and everything is colour coded and can only go in one way round, so don't be put off a good option just because you have to build it yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed my first build and it went flawlessly because I just took my time and followed the instructions carefully.

[pauldarkside]

Looks promising! Can the memory be upgraded to 2 gig?

Although Asus doesn't appear to specify upgradeable slots (I doubt it's aimed at users who would need to tinker inside the box - might invalidate the warranty too), Crucial does list that model as being able to support 2GB.

If you don't fancy building your own, that could still be an option. Or pop a post in the hardware section, or one of the subsections, and you'll get a parts list soon enough. Plenty of people on these boards willing to help

[Ice Tea]

I would wait for some reviews but the new ultra low power consuming Asrock Ionstar 330 Dual core atom with Nvidia Ion 9400m has just come out.

http://www.asrock.com/nettop/spec/ION%20330.asp

The unit in action drawing less than 100w playing games at low res and playing High def movies at 1080p.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgAZ67MuaK0

It's started to turn up in the UK for about £299 without OS or £399 with Vista and unlike some of the other Atom based pc's that have come out the Asrock one is dualcore and can be overclocked but they don't say how much power it consumes when overclocked.


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[pauldarkside]

I would wait for some reviews but the new ultra low power consuming Asrock Ionstar 330 Dual core atom with Nvidia Ion 9400m has just come out.

Shame they don't have a Blu-ray option without having to buy the drive separately.

[kalniel]

If looking at performance per Watt, Atom is certainly NOT a good choice.
Personally I believe Core2Duo T8xxx/T9xxx/P8xxx/P9xxx is the most efficient CPU out there.

Are you saying a Core2Duo uses less power web browsing than an Atom??

Bonkers. For the uses stated an Atom is fine - either a nettop or netbook with a VGA out would be fine.

[arthurleung]

Are you saying a Core2Duo uses less power web browsing than an Atom??

Bonkers. For the uses stated an Atom is fine - either a nettop or netbook with a VGA out would be fine.

Yes and No. With the netbook (Dell Mini9) and laptop I have, for idle browsing my laptop (Inspiron 1525) use less power. For pages with tons of flash (which will lag like hell on the Atom btw), obviously the Atom wins in power consumption (without showing the page as intended). That is with the 1525 having a harddrive vs SSD as well as having a larger screen. screen brightness is set to minimum for both.

I never used a lower-binned (i.e. P6xxx) C2D so I don't know how good can the power consumption be, but the older T5xxx/T7xxx/T2xxx is not as energy efficient (by about 10&#37

Hopefully I'll upgrade my 1525 with a SSD over the summer holiday and try to get the battery life up to 9~11 hours out of a 9 cell (currently a tad over 8 hours)

[pauldarkside]

For pages with tons of flash (which will lag like hell on the Atom btw)

Tell me about it, the sooner Adobe sort out proper GPU acceleration the better. It's been said that NVIDIA are collaborating with them but I'm not holding my breath. With the possibility of Hulu apprearing on UK shores (again, I'm not holding my breath) as soon as September, and the benefits it'd give to iPlayer/SkyPlayer/etc you'd think they'd have it covered already - it'd surely help shift more units (slap a YouTube HD logo on the box too). At the moment, it's a bit of a missed opportunity.

[kalniel]

For pages with tons of flash (which will lag like hell on the Atom btw),

They lag even on a Core2Duo in my experience

[ixos]

I would wait for some reviews but the new ultra low power consuming Asrock Ionstar 330 Dual core atom with Nvidia Ion 9400m has just come out.

http://www.asrock.com/nettop/spec/ION%20330.asp

The unit in action drawing less than 100w playing games at low res and playing High def movies at 1080p.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgAZ67MuaK0

It's started to turn up in the UK for about £299 without OS or £399 with Vista and unlike some of the other Atom based pc's that have come out the Asrock one is dualcore and can be overclocked but they don't say how much power it consumes when overclocked.


.

This looks interesting. Will have to research it more. What are peoples views on it?