Axlegear
05-19-2007, 06:13 PM
Heya. I'm looking at building an ultra-low power PC, preferably one that can be passively or duplex cooled. (IE, one fan, three PCs, ghetto rackmount style.)
I know CPUs cary a lot, from as little as 15w on a Via, 35w on an Energy Efficient AMD X2, 65w+ on core2duo and 110w+ on AMD X2s.
How much does RAM consume in wattage? How much would 1x512 MB 533 DDR2 consume compared to 2x2GB?
Also, what are some low-watt, very cool running, decently-long-lasting harddrives?
And aside from onboard, are there any PCI or PCI Express cards that are passively cooled and low on watts? (This system will run 800x600 windows, and that's the most intensive it's graphics will get) Or is onboard actually just better for this? (Some of the onboard solutions seem rather powerful)
What are some tips, too, on cutting back power consumption and heat output? (I know disabling unnecesary devices. But what are some examples?)
And would underclocking components, such as the AGP/PCI/PCIexpress bus help? Memory underclock? (CPU is not getting underclocked, if I can help it, except to acheive passive cooling. If I acheive it with good results i'll even overclock a bit.)
I'm planning on a folding rig, but power is expensive, and i'm shooting for a good PowerConsumption : WU ratio, since i'll almost surely spend more in power than on the PC itself. (My current PC burns ~300-450 watts constantly, counting the monitor. I did the math, and since the day i've bought it, it's cost me something in the range of $1800 in power bills! THat's with HDDs turning off after 30 mins, monitor after 3. [No standby etc. due to F@H])
I know CPUs cary a lot, from as little as 15w on a Via, 35w on an Energy Efficient AMD X2, 65w+ on core2duo and 110w+ on AMD X2s.
How much does RAM consume in wattage? How much would 1x512 MB 533 DDR2 consume compared to 2x2GB?
Also, what are some low-watt, very cool running, decently-long-lasting harddrives?
And aside from onboard, are there any PCI or PCI Express cards that are passively cooled and low on watts? (This system will run 800x600 windows, and that's the most intensive it's graphics will get) Or is onboard actually just better for this? (Some of the onboard solutions seem rather powerful)
What are some tips, too, on cutting back power consumption and heat output? (I know disabling unnecesary devices. But what are some examples?)
And would underclocking components, such as the AGP/PCI/PCIexpress bus help? Memory underclock? (CPU is not getting underclocked, if I can help it, except to acheive passive cooling. If I acheive it with good results i'll even overclock a bit.)
I'm planning on a folding rig, but power is expensive, and i'm shooting for a good PowerConsumption : WU ratio, since i'll almost surely spend more in power than on the PC itself. (My current PC burns ~300-450 watts constantly, counting the monitor. I did the math, and since the day i've bought it, it's cost me something in the range of $1800 in power bills! THat's with HDDs turning off after 30 mins, monitor after 3. [No standby etc. due to F@H])