Advise on a low power system

I need to build a low power system but it still needs to be fairly powerful, its not going to be overclocked. so far i have come up with 2 options....

1.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e AM2 Dual Core 2.5GHz, 512KB x 2 Cache, Retail

Asus M3N78-AM, NV GF 8200, S AM2+, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1066/533/667, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX, VGA

2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)

or

2.
Intel Pentium Dual-Core, E2200, Socket 775, Allendale Core, 2x2.20 GHz, 1MB Cache, Retail

Asus P5N73-AM, NF610i, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800(OC), SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX, VGA

2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)

both cost £130 with postage from scan

You could get an E5200 with a P43 Chipset board

2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 £31.79
MSI P43 Neo-F, iP43, S 775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, ATX £60.49
Intel Pentium Dual-Core, E5200, Socket 775, Wolfdale Core, 2x2.5 GHz, 2MB Cache, Retail £64.85

Thats what i was looking at, but i've since found some more cash :)

Here are some power comsumption figures for the chipsets:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3430&p=10

http://www.amdzone.com/index.php/rev...review?start=4

I would personally go for the AMD X2 system. It also will have better future upgrade potential as the 45nm Phenom and Athlon processors should also be compatible.

The AMD chip has a rated TDP of 45W the Intel is 65W when you consider that the AMD has the memory controller included in that figure as well I would say that is the way to go. But each chip is different so while the rated TDP of the Intel chip is 65W it may only consume 40W of course the same is true of the AMD CPU.

Either way both will provide you with low power systems.

At a guess the AMD would have more grunt 2.5GHz against 2.2GHz (even though Intel is faster clock for clock), the AMD board will also have much better graphics capability if that is a concern.

If you also need to get a power supply for this, try and get an 80plus certified power supply. These will be more efficient and generally better quality then a generic power supply. They waste less power in the power supply itself so can run cooler and quieter.

For the system above an antec 380 will be more then sufficient, especially if you are using the onboard vga.

I've just built a system with that AMD CPU, but I couldn't get an Asus board within the price I had.

If you go for an Asus board that has an ATI graphics chip (740, 780) it'll run a 22" monitor comfortably. Look at the heatsinks on the boards - small!

I fitted 1GB of Crucial RAM with 5-5-5-15 timings (ISTR Asus/AMD being better like this) and use a Seasonic 330W PSU.

The input to the box is 40W at idle; I don't have Coo 'n' Quiet as it's a Foxconn mobo and, although in the BIOS, there doesn't seem to be a utility. With an Asus mobo you could get down to 35W or less.

BTW, there is a problem finding a really good PSU for low-powered systems; the S12 is at about 10% of it's rated output, so the efficiency and PF drop off.

What about dual core Intel Atom 330 I believe a very low powered system.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152176

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rob4001

What about dual core Intel Atom 330 I believe a very low powered system.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152176

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It's the opposite of powerful and the chipset uses about 30W by itself.

If you're going in that sort of direction a better option would be to pair the Athlon 64 2000+, which clocks in at 1GHz, with a 740G or 8200 chipset.