Budget Low Power Mobo - Home Server

[Maccer101]

What would be the best choice for a low Power Mobo for a Linux (ubuntu) Home Server, cheaper the better. Looking at AMD as mobos seem to be cheaper and they still offer a good range of 45w Single/Dual core cpus, would mainly be used for media streaming and downloading.

Current guess is a AMD740g would be the best with a 45w Athlon/Sempron CPU followed by the 690g.

I would like 3xSata minimum.

Seen tests where sub 31-35watts at idle is possible for the 740g (full machine) with the 690g being 5-10 watts more.

Are the any other motherboards that would meet these requirement, like an old geforce series board?

Only asking really as deals on 740g/690g are thin on the ground

Don't want a miniitx, atom, via board and am looking at £170-200 for the complete build:-

Case
PSU - already bought
mobo
CPU - thinking of a Sempron LE-12XX
2x512mb RAM PC5300 (have spare)
1tb WD Green
No DVD drive

Once again looking for a nice cheap solution but want to get a rig that idles at 40 watts or less so I can justify this over a NAS and have more functionality

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There were brand new OEM 780G boards on sale for under £30 from a UK Ebay seller a few weeks ago!! They were made by a company called AFox which is a part of Foxconn.

I think that you maybe able to save some money by looking on Ebay for the processor. You maybe even able to get a new one for a good price.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would also check out the Intel Celeron M single core processors as under load they have quite low power consumption too!

[Biscuit]

Im using an celeron E1200 on an NF610i board with ubuntu 8.04. Im not using the onboard video i have a seperate 6200TC but it works a treat. I run the CPU with a cheap akasa cooler completely fanless! Couldnt tell you the exact numbers but there are a lot of things you can do to reduce power such as switch off all the unused USB/Serial ports

[Maccer101]

Okay,looks like I'll keep trolling through ebay to see whats on offer.

Original plan was to go intel but prices seem a bit silly at the mo, will keep my options open see what deals I can get. This project isn't a big rush so I can take my time having fun trying to find bargains.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There is are brand new AFox(part of Foxconn) branded G31 motherboards for under £30 on Ebay. Also you can get Celeron M420 and M440 processors for under £20 too.

[Maccer101]

Arrgh! Now I'm not sure what to go for:-

AMD 690g + Sepmron LE-1xxx

OR

G31 + Celeron 4XX

not easy to find power consumption data as I would just pick the lower of the 2

Just found out that the WD Greens aren't waranteed under linux due to the heads parking too frequently, looks like a Samsung drive instead (extra 3-4 watts) or maybe a Hitachi (don't know much about these though)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Celeron has probably higher idle power consumption but lower peak power consumption than the Sempron.

You may also be able to undervolt the processors so this maybe another avenue to follow.

Silent PC Review would be a good place to start as they have power consumption and noise figures in their reviews:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

Their forums also are quite informative!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Scan are doing some 780G and G41 motherboards for around £50 on Today Only:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx