That all sounds good, and would still leave me with a decent spec PC for the occasional encoding that I do, will look into it, cheers.
Energy efficient PC? Worth it?
- Thread starter broona
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That all sounds good, and would still leave me with a decent spec PC for the occasional encoding that I do, will look into it, cheers.
Yeah - like shadow says, i'd maybe clock down your rig and/or drop the voltages on the chip as low as possible. My e7200 will run @ stock speeds on 1v.
Also, the cheap but capable passive card idea would be silent and very efficient.
As for my ITX if you substituted the case (cos it's quite hard/pricy to get hold of) then the total build (brand new) would cost between £350 and £400.
As i had a few 2nd hand parts the build (inc Hoojum case) cost me around £280.
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Also, the cheap but capable passive card idea would be silent and very efficient.
As for my ITX if you substituted the case (cos it's quite hard/pricy to get hold of) then the total build (brand new) would cost between £350 and £400.
As i had a few 2nd hand parts the build (inc Hoojum case) cost me around £280.
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That CPU is very power efficient and has very low idle consumption, IIRC that graphic card at stock is also very good at idling compared to current high end cards.
But Nvidia chipsets are power hungry. Also that PSU is overshooting so efficiency during pretty much all normal use suffers.
WD Caviar Green/GP drives would have lowest power consumption (2.5" laptop drives would be still better) but compared to chipset and lowish efficiency running PSU that's small difference.
I might sell my 3850 and look at a passive card then, or even look at a motherboard with integrated graphics as I can't imagine that there'll be much I want to play on the PC over the next few months. Any recommendations for a mobo, or would I be better off asking in that section?
Also, regarding the PSU, can anyone recommend me a very efficient one that'll easily power my setup?
Thanks.
Also, regarding the PSU, can anyone recommend me a very efficient one that'll easily power my setup?
Thanks.
I'd say a MATX G33/G35 would be ideal. Onboard graphics - some with HDMI outputs too.
Also, the earthwatts mentioned above would be good but after selling the corsair i would say it's close to not being worth it. Plus you have that nice 5 year warranty with corsair too!
Also, that e8400 should run at stock clocks on anything between 1-1.1v meaning quite a saving on full load power usage. Plus it will generate less heat meaning the 120 fan on the ninja could be well undervolted (5v/7v) or possibly even removed.
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Also, the earthwatts mentioned above would be good but after selling the corsair i would say it's close to not being worth it. Plus you have that nice 5 year warranty with corsair too!
Also, that e8400 should run at stock clocks on anything between 1-1.1v meaning quite a saving on full load power usage. Plus it will generate less heat meaning the 120 fan on the ninja could be well undervolted (5v/7v) or possibly even removed.
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Yeah, that was recommended before, looking at that too, but very interested to see what I can do with my current setup first, then at least if I do need power at some point in time, (video encoding springs to mind), I can turn things back up for a while.
I'd say a MATX G33/G35 would be ideal. Onboard graphics - some with HDMI outputs too.
Also, the earthwatts mentioned above would be good but after selling the corsair i would say it's close to not being worth it. Plus you have that nice 5 year warranty with corsair too!
Also, that e8400 should run at stock clocks on anything between 1-1.1v meaning quite a saving on full load power usage. Plus it will generate less heat meaning the 120 fan on the ninja could be well undervolted (5v/7v) or possibly even removed.
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Cheers. According to Corsair, my PSU's 80%+ efficient too, would another PSU make a huge difference over that?
I'll have a play with the voltages later, see if I can't break something!
Most of the good ones tend to be 80+ so you won't improve too much over that.Cheers. According to Corsair, my PSU's 80%+ efficient too, would another PSU make a huge difference over that?
I'll have a play with the voltages later, see if I can't break something!
If it were me i would just stick with it.
Also, as i say, my e7200 will do the stock speed of 2.55ghz on 1v (stock voltage is 1.2ish) - on my ITX board i can only drop to 1.15v (bios limitation) but even that small amount drops my load wattage by around 6w.
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My CPU doesn't want to boot at less than 1.1v, not sure if that's the CPU or the mobo, but it'll do for now.
I've also made sure all the power saving bits and bobs are turned on in the BIOS, and set my Vista power profile to Power Saving.
That'll do for starters, and I think I'll look into changing the GPU next as that's the easiest thing to do, any recommendations on that front?
I've also made sure all the power saving bits and bobs are turned on in the BIOS, and set my Vista power profile to Power Saving.
That'll do for starters, and I think I'll look into changing the GPU next as that's the easiest thing to do, any recommendations on that front?
Problem is that 80+ means that PSU must be 80% efficient at 20, 50 and 100% loads.
Now that 20% load is 110W, below that efficiency suffers and generally drops below 80 just slightly under 20% load.
With micro-ATX mobo and integrated graphic card idle draw would be easily below 50W
Here are some good examples:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article869-page5.html
(that Nvidia chipset isn't any desktop/gaming SLI chipset)
From normal ATX PSUs Seasonic S12II 330W would be probably one of the best bets.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...B DDR2 TV-Out/DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Something like that, perhaps the 256MB version to save a fiver.
Although, you could always change your motherboard to an mATX one with intergrated graphics. G33 chipset perhaps?
Something like that, perhaps the 256MB version to save a fiver.
Although, you could always change your motherboard to an mATX one with intergrated graphics. G33 chipset perhaps?
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Good point, but if I bought a laptop, I couldn't get away with using the stupidly small screen, so I'd need to hook it up to my 22" TFT..........
Unless you make a decent profit by selling off your current bits and then buying new ones for a low-powered system I wouldn't bother. The energy saving will be absolutely minimal in cost terms, and you'll have spent quite a few hours of your life researching, selling, buying and building a new system.
I'd just underclock and undervolt your current system.
I'd just underclock and undervolt your current system.
I wouldn't call 17" stupidly small, there are some laptops with 19" ones as well.
Biggest power wasters are crappy chipset in motherboard and overshooting PSU.
Now how do you suggest doing those things to them?
Way to go Nvidia:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2964&p=11
100+ W would be acceptable for high end cards under load but idle/desktop use consumptions are at entirely unacceptable level:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/force3d-hd-4870_5.html#sect0
Lowest end Yorkfields need less under full load! And Micro$oft (except they do nothing micro sized) is determined to make sure it even stays in 3D mode during desktop use.
Since NetBurst fiasco Intel has taken power efficiency very seriously so I sure hope Larrabee puts end to these high efficiency in power wasting designs because it looks like otherwise that's not going to happen unless some points "business end" of firearm toward Ati and Nvidia.
Those aren't laptops but luggable computers.