Power efficient build

BoomAM · 25 Aug 2014 at 15:46

Afternoon all,
As a random question, i'm consider the idea of replacing my old desktop with a newer one, but rather than going for something that's significantly faster, i'm looking for something that's roughly the same speed as a minimum, but significantly more power efficient. If it ends up being quicker, great.
Unusual build requirement i agree.

Current spec:
Q6600 (SLACKR)
Abit P35 Pro
8Gb RAM
nVidia GeForce GTX285
128Gb SSD / 500Gb SATA

The existing power supply and case (Corsair Modular 650W & Antec P182 v1) should suffice as the base of the system fine i would have thought...

Anyone got some ideas?

Thanks.

BoomAM · 25 Aug 2014 at 15:55

Everything, inc a little gaming (would have thought the aging spec list would have given that away

)

BoomAM · 25 Aug 2014 at 16:03

Grimley said:
Haswell low power spec? similar to mine.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4570S 2.90GHz Low Power (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £143.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97-HD3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £62.99
Total : £296.57 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Looks good, any suggestions on video cards that are similar in power to the GTX 285 ?

BoomAM · 25 Aug 2014 at 16:14

Quartz said:
Passive cooling will help efficiency as no energy will be required to run the fans.

I'm not sure it'll be a noticable difference but its a valid point.

I'm wondering if its worth replacing the case in the same hit too...

BoomAM · 25 Aug 2014 at 18:38

Quartz said:
I can recommend the Silverstone rotated cases because when the motherboard is rotated the hot air from each element rises separately and does not rise flow over other components as would happen in a normal case. The other type of case I'd recommend is one where the motherboard is flat e.g. the Aerocool DS or the Bitfenix Prodigy M for similar reasons, though the PSU is underneath in these cases.

Don't worry about having the GPU in the x8 slot - you won't see any performance loss.

I should also mention that you could get rid of your HDD and get a largish SSD. OCUK currently have the 250 GB Samsung on special offer.

That Aerocool case is quite nice.
RE: HDDs, nah, the 128Gb SSD i have for windows/apps is fine when coupled with the 500Gb for alternative storage.

So upto now, the spec list looks like:
Aerocool Case@ £72.95

Intel i5-4570S@ £143.99

Kingston 8Gb DDR3 Kit@ £65.99

Gigabyte Z97M-D3H@ £77.99

Would be nice to find a mobo that'd fit 2x PCI-E x16 (both at at least 8x capability).

Then its a case of identifying a good video card + CPU HSF. (Shame i cant reuse my Scythe off my existing system as its a beast of a cooler).
The 750Ti vs 760...are AMD cards worth looking at?

BoomAM · 16 Nov 2014 at 15:15

After many months....im still considering.

Is the GTX 760 still the video card to go for then?

BoomAM · 23 Nov 2014 at 14:10

edscdk said:
Lower powrr but dont mind if its no faster? If you want to savr money stick with what you have.

Thanks for your advice. Very useful.

The R9 285 looks to be the sweet spot graphics wise.

Whats the opinion nowadays on Intel vs AMD for gaming purposes?

BoomAM · 12 Apr 2015 at 20:13

Evening,
So, im gonna be buying in the next few days, looking at these:

Intel Core i5-4570S @ £164.99
Asus X97 Pro Gamer @ £107.99
GeIL Blackdragon 16Gb @ £89.99
NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case @ £89.99
Scythe SCMG-4000 Mugen 4 @ £38.99

Other parts (pre-existing)
Graphics: XFX HD6870 Black Edition
HDD 0: Samsung SSD
HDD 1: Samsung HDD
PSU: Corsair HX620 Modular

Reasonings thus far:

4570S - Low Power, recommended here.
Asus X97 Pro Gamer - "Separate" audio PCB, nice feature set, good layout.
GeIL - always bought GeIL ram and its done fine.
NZXT H440 - Reviews well, looks nice, quiet rated (and proven), good price.
Scythe - had Scythe in the past, always performed well.
--
Corsair HX620 - still in good condition, still quiet, modular and has all the power/ports needed for modern systems.
6870 - not high performance now a days but will tide me over for what little gaming i do now...DX4 will be the catalyst for a full on upgrade
HDD & SSD - self explanatory

Anyone got any suggestions to bring the price down/alternative parts?

BoomAM · 12 Apr 2015 at 20:28

Evening,
Will the performance difference be noticeable for the RAM? Or negligible?

And the heatsink, im looking for quietness and performance, ive typically over-specced the HSF under the logic of a higher potential TDP HSF on a lower TDP processor means less likely the fan will spin up...

BoomAM · 12 Apr 2015 at 20:39

stulid said:
Haswell likes fast RAM, but i've done a spec above with a fat black heatsink with a quiet fan and a H97 chipset board (limited upto 1600mhz so that explains the RAM) that also has a black PCB.

The board looks good, i need to look into what limitations it has (will do that now.

)

joeyjojo said:
...In other words, you're saving power, but mostly because the chip is just slower. It's marginally more efficient (by about 12%) but IMO that's not worth getting a locked CPU.

Most of the time they'll idle at the same power anyway making it even less compelling.

I don't plan on OCing so a locked CPU is moot to me.
Good point perhaps on the idle power consumption, but i'd need to look into what the consumption would be during "normal" operations.

BoomAM · 12 Apr 2015 at 21:34

Andreas.96 said:
Out of interest why the power efficient build?

Scroll back up the thread :-)

JasonM said:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned undervolting. The CPU, Memory and chipset all undervolts. I have computers that are both overclocked and undervolted, so the regular i5 (non K) will undervolt by quite a margin.

Another good point, but i don't really plan on faffing to that extent. Just want it to work, i don't have the energy anymore to be spending time testing/rebooting/retesting/ect;

I've looked up the average power usage for the other suggested processor using the logic of its unlocked/faster/idle and the idle power is roughly about the same, however under usage and under load, its noticeably higher.

At the moment, i'm somewhat happy with the logic of "S" model as i'm not really going for flat out performance, just something quicker and more efficient than my Q6600.

Also Quartz mentioned about the Silverstone cases that rotate the board 90 degrees, I can confirm they provide very efficient cooling that requires less fan activity.

Significantly more expensive though...plus i did a fair amount of research on the H440, seems to fit the bill for me.
Do you have a specific Silverstone case in mind so i can research it?

BoomAM · 12 Apr 2015 at 21:56

JasonM said:
This
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-121-SV

This is same layout as above, but with more metal and better sound proofing.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-168-SV

Nice cases, but at 2-3x the price of the H440, whatever *c drop it would get would be far cheaper obtained by a better HSF?

Re under-volting, you can have the voltages done in a few days including testing. I've calculated before I've saved around 10watt of total CPU power at full load. Once you have worked out voltages it's done for life of computer.

True, but i'm still not overly interested in faffing that much.
+darael's point about voltage scaling is a good one, the whole point of it could be nullified if the board does not scale the voltage with the undervolt change...

BoomAM · 13 Apr 2015 at 07:35

JasonM said:
On the i7 4770 (above) I can't remember but it's quite a margin, will check bios and post back.

The voltages I undervolt are chipset, QPI, memory and CPU offset.

As a follow on question, how are you verifying the TDP drop? Or are you judging based on temperature drops?

BoomAM · 13 Apr 2015 at 12:49

Parts wise, im settled on these:
CPU: Core i5 4570S
Mobo: MSI H97 Gaming 3
Case: NZXT H440 Red

Still a bit unsure on RAM & HSF choices though...

BoomAM · 13 Apr 2015 at 13:18

stulid said:
Well that board because of the chipset is limited to 1600Mhz RAM, but faster RAM such as the 2400mhz teamgroup will just run at a slower speed.

Fair enough, save myself a few bob then and go with the GeIL.

Looking at some performance tests online, the difference from the bottom end 1300 and the top 2800+ is less than 5% on average anyway...not really a deal breaker.

Just the HSF to pick now.

BoomAM · 13 Apr 2015 at 14:56

Im kinda hoping that the AC cooler i already have will work on the new sockets. The "rev2" version of it does...plan is to see if it fits, if it does, great, if not, use the intel stock one and order a new'en!

I'll add the ThemisDirect to my list to research later.

Any other recommendations?

BoomAM · 13 Apr 2015 at 15:31

Shivy011 said:
The original Arctic Freezer 7 won't fit on 1155/1150/1156 Already tried

Its not a freezer7, its a freezer extreme...if that makes a difference?

BoomAM · 13 Apr 2015 at 15:54

I'd have to look at the mounting plate when its out the existing system to be honest.
But the rest of the accessories i still have...

BoomAM · 13 Apr 2015 at 17:08

Any opinions on the "NZXT H230 Silent" & the "H630 Silent" vs the H440?

BoomAM · 13 Apr 2015 at 21:05

I looked into that....just looks cheap.
The problem I'm seeing is that the cases that are good for noise and airflow have a very uninspired design or lack features. Whereas cases like the h440 get mixed reviews.
Some say its quiet all the time with great cooling for single GPU systems. Some say its only quiet when not using the fan hub, some say its good even with 3x GPUs. There's no clear answer! :mad: