Power efficient yet powerful pc?

[watercooled]

"The Mini 10 uses a Z530 whereas the Mini 10v uses the N270 and the N270 is 15-20% faster"
You're comparing one computer - how do you know the CPU is what's causing the differing performance? It could be a number of things so one example isn't definitive proof.

As I've already linked this PC is perfectly capable of playing HD videos but we're straying from the subject of the thread - the OP didn't even mention HD playback so it doesn't matter if it can play it or not does it? So, even if it couldn't manage HD I still think this would be a good choice of PC for him.

[matty-hodgson]

The laptops were exactly the same other than the CPUs :s. What the hell else could it have been?

If you put a 5970 in your PC and noticed a lot better gaming experience, it's obviously the bloody component you just replaced, isn't it?

[golwg]

What about an ITX system built from scratch? Anyone able to spec up some components for me? Would love to build as small as possible with good power / efficiency.

[watercooled]

Well for a start they have different chipsets and graphics chips. Look you're starting to get a bit angry face about this so just leave it eh? This isn't helping the OP...

@golwg: Would you want an Atom ITX board or one which supports a faster CPU? If you're after an Atom board a Pineview one would be a good start but they're only just starting to appear, here's a good webpage showing available/upcoming boards: http://www.linuxtech.net/features/in..._overview.html

[matty-hodgson]

What about an ITX system built from scratch? Anyone able to spec up some components for me? Would love to build as small as possible with good power / efficiency.

It would be possible, but it would be cheaper to just find one of a specification you like and then buying that.

An Atom system will the best way to go for power efficiency.

[Hopper.]

Im currently using a Asrock Ion 330 as my media centre / download / web machine. Its fairly quiet considering it has been running 24/7 for several months and does everything I want a simple machine to do. (It has enough power to play 1080p playback, video editing might push it alot tho)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=1020948

You could probs build something using a iTX board however for around the 200quid mark it wasnt really worth the effort

[DanceswithUnix]

Guys, do you really thing the OP can drop from the usability of a quad core machine to an Atom?

For me I think even a dual core Atom 330 would last about 5 mins before it got sent back/dumped in the corner as unusable.

[oolon]

Guys, do you really thing the OP can drop from the usability of a quad core machine to an Atom?

For me I think even a dual core Atom 330 would last about 5 mins before it got sent back/dumped in the corner as unusable.

Yes, I have a quad core (xeon w3550) and an atom 330, I use the atom alot more as I leave it on all the time, my suggestion (the orginal one) was not that he gave up the quad core but rather he got an atom to do most of the day to day things. So they are not so powerful, you can however stuff them with memory, which for many tasks makes all the difference, when you need the power, switch on the big knave girl.

[DanceswithUnix]

Yes, I have a quad core (xeon w3550) and an atom 330, I use the atom alot more as I leave it on all the time, my suggestion (the orginal one) was not that he gave up the quad core but rather he got an atom to do most of the day to day things. So they are not so powerful, you can however stuff them with memory, which for many tasks makes all the difference, when you need the power, switch on the big knave girl.

Very interesting to know, as I am thinking of getting a netbook for occasional & portable use and that kind of hits my intended usage pattern.

However, in terms of a desktop machine I still just don't get Atom. Take a peek at the SPCR review here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1019-page5.html

and they complain the system is using 31W at idle. This isn't an Atom, it is a full blown uATX i5 dual core. From the PSU data they give in that article I make that just over 40W at the wall. They are comparing that 31W to an Intel motherboard that drew 18W, but I guess that was missing some of the USB3, firewire etc ports of the Asus.

Anantech show modern machines using 70W whilst watching a video:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=3724

The main power figures in that review give about 70W idle but that is with a 5870 plugged in which idle at about 25W, so again you should be able to get 70-25= 45W idle at the wall on integrated graphics.

Note they give a Core2 Quad 8400 as 96W idle, so that would be 71W idle if you unplugged the high end graphics card.


Edit to add:
5870 idles at 27W apparently, http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3743&p=2

[oolon]

Well my atom takes 35W (at the wall) idle and 40W maxed out, it has 2x7200k (WD Black) hard drives mirrored and a Sangoma Telecoms card in it, as its an ION chipset it even has gigabit lan (thats 4W itself), and 2x2GB DDR2 memory. I think the real difference with the atom is it stay low power under all load conditions, other machines may idle low (you would hope so).

[watercooled]

Yeah agreed, an Atom system should be more than enough for most tasks.
There is a bit of an issue with Atom boards using more power than expected - it's not the CPU which uses barely anything but the inefficient chipset. This is remedied by the new Pineview platform which has a far more efficient setup, also the laptop version of Diamondville (the older one) and the Silverthorne MID platforms tend to be much more efficient (as in the Fit-PC I suggested earlier which is Silverthorne-based, hence the power efficiency). Despite it being said before that it used <10W 'because it's no good' this simply isn't the case - it was just the old chipset used on the old platform which wasn't even designed for Atom which caused the high power consumption, it's not exactly a good way to compare performance i.e. by power consumption - the P4-HT is one of the most power-hungry chips in existence yet it's easily outperformed by a modern low wattage CPU...

[oolon]

the P4-HT is one of the most power-hungry chips in existence yet it's easily outperformed by a modern low wattage CPU...

Ahhh don't you miss the Prescott cpus. Perfect use in a ceramic hob!

[watercooled]

My mate still has one - he PC does double up as a hairdryer though

[matty-hodgson]

Still looking for a power efficient PC?

This is a bloody good deal atm - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167153...otd&hp_deal=10

[watercooled]

Wow yeah that is pretty cheap!

[oolon]

Still looking for a power efficient PC?

This is a bloody good deal atm - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167153...otd&hp_deal=10

Only a single core though, dual core for 50 quid more would be a killer deal!