i3 4130T or 4130 for file/media server?

[probedb]

My server is getting an update and I'm just stuck on deciding on the CPU.

Currently it runs a Q6600 Core2Quad (it's old ) it was perfectly happy with an E6300 C2D. I thought about the mobile CPU for even lower power?

It runs Apache, Serviio, SqueezeCenter and not much else.

Is this a good low-power solution for this job over the full power version?

Cheers!
Paul.

[DanceswithUnix]

I really can't imagine it matters that much, I would go for whatever is cheaper.

I run a 65W AMD quad core APU in my home server, it pulls nearly 50W from the wall for the entire system including a pair of mirrored hard drives. It only pulls the power it needs to get the job done (eg it costs me a few watts per Minecraft instance).

[peterb]

I have run apache, postfix, samba and some music streaming on a 1.2GHz Via processor. It also had two mirrored drives - mirrored using madamIt was quite happy. You need surprisingly little grunt for a home server system. .

So yes, go for the cheaper processor.

[shaithis]

If it really was fine with the E6300 and you can live with 2 RAM sockets and not many SATA ports, then look at an AM1 system.

[watercooled]

I've never really seen the point of the 'T' processors. Not for standard desktop use anyway.

All they seem to do is impose a TDP cap on the processor, not appreciably improve performance/watt or anything, and in many cases you can end up with pretty much the same processor by underclocking a non-T model. Perhaps the lower TDP would be useful if you were expecting high load but with limited cooling e.g. very compact case/restricted airflow, or had some sort of hard power limitations like a PicoPSU.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...t_3.html#sect0

If the motivation for upgrading is just power saving, make sure you'll actually be making a net saving in a reasonable time frame. It's not uncommon to see people spending hundreds on an 'efficiency' upgrade only to save maybe a pound per year i.e. wasting money overall.

[probedb]

They're the same price so I was just checking. The system is getting upgraded anyways.

Thanks all.

[DanceswithUnix]

They're the same price so I was just checking. The system is getting upgraded anyways.

Thanks all.

Then I think it comes down to your personal preferences.

Higher TDP part should feel a bit more responsive.
Lower TDP part is less likely to spin up the fan if you are noise sensitive.

Either should be a big improvement over what you have.

[probedb]

Many thanks Serviio is the only thing that might take up some CPU but I don't even use transcoding so it's minimal.

[watercooled]

Even then I'm not sure if the T would make much of a difference, especially for CPU-only load.

I can't seem to find a decent article comparing power consumption of 4130T and 4130 but from this we can see that the load delta even for a non-T Ivy Bridge i3 is already <35W.
http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/3169...-cinebench-115

As far as the CPU part goes, I'd expect the 'T' to just be a lower clocked i3, nothing special. The TDP cap may make more of a difference if you're loading the GPU/uncore too, but even so many CPUs don't approach their TDP anyway.

AMD's approach on some of their CPUs of just giving you a CPU and letting you set your own TDP cap makes more sense TBH, similar to what Intel allow for mobile parts. From the (admittedly limited) comparisons I've seen, there doesn't seem to be any significant difference in binning for the T models; they might use less power under load but are proportionately slower to compensate. They're all essentially identical at idle thanks to DVFS/gating/etc.

[Nezbert]

How about the J1800 (dual core) or J1900 (quad core) motherboards from Intel. The CPU is fanless and soldered onto the board. I'm running a J1800 server for home media streaming and it's not the fastest but streams HD video over Plex OK.

Selling points: roughly 10W power draw on full load and you can pick the entire board/CPU up for ~£50. Brand new!

[probedb]

Unfortunately it has no PCIe. My RAID card is a 8x card and once I've used that up I'll be adding another one.

[watercooled]

You can get AM1 boards with a a PCIe slot, generally x16 physical but only x4 electrical. But it wouldn't leave any room for expansion obviously.

Also, what about something like this? http://www.ebuyer.com/517760-hp-prol...ver-712317-421

Intel do some weird segmentation for ECC support - many Celerons support it while their expensive i7s don't.

[probedb]

I already have everything except for a mobo and CPU. I currently have 6 drives hanging off an 8 port SATA/SAS RAID card.

[scaryjim]

Personally, I'd go with an AM1 setup, running a quad core Sempron 3850, with an matx board. These generally have a physical X16/electrical X4 slot, and a couple of x1 slots for further expansion as required. Ebuyer have board from ASUS and MSI that are both around £23 - £24, and the Sempron is £25.49, making the whole bundle < £50 - cheaper than the i3 on its own....

[probedb]

Yeah it doesn't allow for expansion. My entire reason for having a PC is that it's more expandable than a NAS. I want to add another 8 port or 16 port card in at some point too.

[scaryjim]

... I want to add another 8 port or 16 port card in at some point too.

Then tbh you want to go for a platform that can do at least a pair of x8 PCIe slots, so make sure the mobo is crossfire/sli capable and does x8/x8 - some of the certified ones only do two slots at x16/x4....