Spec Me A --- Low Power CPU

[Simpic]

Hello,

I currently have two HP Microservers with AMD Turion(tm) II Neo N40L Dual-Core Processor running at 1.5Ghz.

One of the servers is fully used as a UnRaid NAS.

The other only has the one disk in it and I use it to run SAB, CP, SB & Headphones plus any other general linux things I want to do.

I'm beginning to think that the box is not really correct for what I want to do. I want more CPU power (or Cores) but not all the available drive space.

If I was to build from scratch what CPU would you recommend to give me a power boost. Not fussed about size or heat too much as it sits in the rack hidden away.

Thanks in advance

Simpic

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You need to also consider other things - the CPU is important but so are other metrics:
1.)PSU efficiency at low loads is VERY important
2.)Use an efficient motherboard.

What is your usage pattern?? Are they mostly low loads and what high level loads do you run and for how long??

 

[Simpic]

The loads are generally low, probably 80% of the time it will be doing virtually nothing.

The high loads are when SAB is downloading then post processing to CP, SB or Headphones.

Headphones also uses FFMPEG to convert FLAC to M4A this maxs the cores at the moment.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

One of the AMD Llano A6 or A8,Trinity A8 or A10 or Intel Core i3 CPUs would do the job.

The 100w TDP and 65W TDP AMD CPUs do have higher peak TDP and power consumption but have as low(or lower) idle and low load power consumption than a Core i3. The FM1 and FM2 CPUs have extensive power gating which seems to work well.I have both a 65W TDP Core i3 2100 and a 100W TDP A6-3670K BTW.

One of the chaps I know on Hexus uses a 100W TDP A6-3670K for HTPC use and measured power consumption at around 30W idle and 40W to 50W watching video and web browsing,and 80W running a game at the wall using an older Antec PSU under Windows. People on OcUK have run them fine off picoPSUs too.

 

[coolamasta]

For reference, I was using a N40L with 4 x 2TB drives and an SSD and I am now using an i3 2120, MSI H77 motherboard, Seasonic 360w 80+ Gold PSU, Raid card and 4 x 3TB WD Red HDD's and the consumption is around the same as the N40! OK when the CPU is maxed out it does draw a bit more but sat idle and doing basic things its very power efficient!

I will get my watt-meter on in when I get 5 and will let you know exact draw, if you want to look at pics and for full spec of it I put my build thread up today for it - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18453923

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

That could be partially down to the PSU efficiency at low loads. The Seasonic G 360W,is around 88% efficient at 88W. I suspect the 200W PSU in the Microsever is not as efficient.

That G series PSU is fantastic though!!

You can see this for example in this case:

http://techreport.com/review/20401/amd-e-350-fusion-apu-on-the-desktop/5

Going to a more efficient PSU at low loads(in this case a DC-DC one),can make a decent difference.

A bit more extreme,but you can see what happens with a PSU change. So the G 360W is probably one of the best PSUs under 400W. There is also the Huntkey Jumper 300W which is slightly cheaper than he G 360W and is as efficient. However,it is meant to be noisier.

Another issue is the Athlon II CPUs used in the Microserver do not have power gating unlike later AMD and Intel CPUs,and have a lower level of platform integration. Hence this does not help either when running at idle. My Core i3 and A6 are better in that regard.

 

[BrianB]

What is low power to you? My 3570K rig idled at about 100-110W max and load about 180W I believe, gaming is a whole other story though, about 280W.

 

[Simpic]

CAT-THE-FIFTH - Some very useful information there thank you.

Looks like I should be researching the PSU more than the CPU !

The AMD Ax series looks like it might be the best bet as price is a consideration as well.

Maybe the quad core one.

Are some MB's better than others with power management?

 

[BrianB]

Some motherboards will be more efficient with higher quality power delivery yes, in reviews they often test power consumption, but with the mid ranged boards there's not usually much between them.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The FM1 CPUs(Llano) are cheaper,but the platform has been replaced by FM2 CPUs(Trinity). The A6-3670K(FM1) is quite cheap now,although you can get 65W TDP versions of the FM2 CPUs,like the A8-5500 and A10-5700. FM1 and FM2 are different sockets.

It might be worth looking on Phoronix for some Linux benchmarks.

 

[JTrickle]

Looks like I should be researching the PSU more than the CPU ?

My undervolted stock speed 3570K idles at 37W (35 when the mechanical drive sleeps). 80~90 gaming or rendering on the HD4000. 5 year old 650W bronze psu. Haven't bothered plugging in a descrete graphics card yet, but newer ones would add about 10W idle.

A new gold class 300ish psu is £40-50. Not worth it to save 5 or 6W. And will I go back to wanting a 200W gfx card when the next gen console games come out?