Low Power HTPC / NAS Challenge

clv101 · 11 Jan 2009 at 18:59

I want to build a HTPC which shall be also used as a NAS and on 24/7.

Requirements:
<50W idle power consumption
Powerful enough for Bluray playback to 720p screen
1TB+ local storage
Quiet
Desktop/HTPC case

So far I'm thinking about these components:

Core 2 Duo E7200
ATI Radeon HD 4350 with passive cooling
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B 1TB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Antec NSK 2480 Desktop Case - Black/Silver
Antec EarthWatts 380W PSU (quiet enough?)
2x2GB PC6400
Pioneer BDC-S02BK Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter

Question over the motherboard, which Intel chipset has the lowest power consumption?

Asus P5QL Pro Intel P43?

Matt · 11 Jan 2009 at 19:20

I doubt there's much chance of that being under 50w.

My HTPC idles at around 70-75w and is this spec:
- AMD 5050e X2 energy efficient (45w cpu)
- Gigabyte MA78GM matx mobo
- 2gb RAM
- 2x HDDs
- TV Card
- MAudio soundcard

If you want low power, you would be wise to look at CPUs that are less than the 7200's 65w.

JediFragger · 11 Jan 2009 at 19:23

Might be possible if you downclock/undervolt the cpu, but am unsure how much power the gfx card munches

Surely an integrated gfx mobo would be better?

sparkey196 · 11 Jan 2009 at 19:24

50w at IDLE is quite a lot.

clv101 · 11 Jan 2009 at 19:41

Matt said:
If you want low power, you would be wise to look at CPUs that are less than the 7200's 65w.

The E7200 uses WAY less than 65W. See this system Tomshardware built with the E7200:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-e7200-g31,2039.html

Idle:

Peak:

sparkey196 said:
50w at IDLE is quite a lot.

Yeah - that's the upper limit, 40W would be better!

clv101 · 11 Jan 2009 at 21:06

I guess the Pentium Dual Core E5200 2.5GHz would be pretty much as good and cheaper.

thepharcyde · 11 Jan 2009 at 21:14

How do you test your power consumption?

clv101 · 11 Jan 2009 at 21:17

thepharcyde said:
How do you test your power consumption?

Test system power with a meter like the one used here:
http://uk.theoildrum.com/story/2006/7/1/1033/23099

Matt · 11 Jan 2009 at 23:01

Cool, that intel cpu does well!

I have remeasured my AMD setup and it's idle energy consumption is roughly 60w. My old HTPC was 145w, so quite a difference, and with turning it off at the plug, i am now saving £50/year in electricity alone...