very low power machine

tfboy said:
Sorry to bump this thread, but I'm really interested in the troubles you've had with the J7F4 1.2GHz fanless.

What problems were you having? Did you resolve them?

I bought this to act as a small file server, but it's the most unstable piece of **** I've ever used :( As soon as I try to do anything over the network, I get a BSOD on a fresh install of XP SP2. BSOD is with processr.sys and searching the net, there are loads of people who've experienced lock ups with Linux. A suggestion revolves around disabling ACPI in the BIOS, but then you'd lose the power management features.

I've updated mine to the latest BIOS and also tried a different NIC in case it was the on board but it's still bad. Copying files from one local harddrive to the other is more stable, but after a few minutes, it BSODs with the same message.

I'm on the verge of returning this and going for an atom-based board. They're cheaper and I can use the PCI slot to add GbE. I only have one big 3.5" HDD so don't needs loads of SATA ports. Just decent power consumption and stability with the ability to have some kind of gigabit ethernet working too.
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Sorry for the delay. I use linux and all i actively do power management wise is spin down my storage drives (idle i use a shade un der 30w) The board despite its claims, doesnt use 6w. Idle with no disk is about 21W. I used to get lockups but found they appear to be heat related, so i just have a 120cm fan sucking all the air of the whole motherboard and out the back of the small case. I dont do much other than share files and download from usenet. Its just a headless box. No doubt when i finally build my HTPC and start to stream HD i will either realise the gigabit nics are duff, or it starts hang again.

I like the look of the atom but the chipset its on defeats the whole point of a cpu designed from the ground up for low power.
 
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dmce said:
I like the look of the atom but the chipset its on defeats the whole point of a cpu designed from the ground up for low power.
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Biffa said:
Actually there are two chipsets being offered with the Atom, the i945GC that consumes 22 W (4 W for the CPU) and the Atom N270s ship with a i945GSE that burns 5.5 W (2.4 W for the CPU).
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Preview of the Asus Eee Box power consumption is a mere 19w full load, Asus are using the i945GSE i think :

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3321&p=1
 
dmce said:
Thats a good point but:

b. Will we ever be able to purchase the i945GSE on its own.
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Thats what id like to know aswell, the other chipset uses to much power, all i want is gigabit ethernet and 1080p support WHY are intel using the bloody 945 :mad:
 
Sorry but there are NO GSE mobos and unlikely to be when Intel has a gazillion other 945 chipsets to dump (sorry, "sell") to the market.
 
entireweb said:
I am just in the process of building an ultra low power PC for a similar purpose.

The bits arrives today:

Intel Atom Intel D945GCLF mini itx. As already stated its about 45 quid.
1 gb ddr 2 667 ram
1 x Western Digital Caviar GP WD7500AACS 750GB 5400RPM SATA2
1 x WD Scorpio WD2500BEVS 250GB 5400RPM 8MB SATA 2,5"

(The hardrives are amongst the lowest power consumption ones available)

Morex Venus 669 case

Its designed for 24/7 operation. The OS and apps will be running on the 250gb drive, and the 750gb will be for file dumping and sharing.

It will be running without monitor, keyboard or mouse and remotely controlled with VNC.

I am guessing about it will consume 30 - 40 watts. 10-15 of which will be the inefficiency of the PSU in the case. I might upgrade the PSU to picopsu dc to dc convertor and use an external ac-dc power brick.

I could recommend a second hand g4 mac mini. I run one 24/7 and they use about 30w. You could add an external hardrive.

I also have an eee pc. I wouldnt trust running it 24/7. It gets a tad hot after a couple of hours. But you never know it might work.

Also from past experience what you need is a one box solution. Not laptops with bits of kit dangling via USB off them. Just untidy.
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So what was the power consumption of your system at load and idle? The Linkstation is 13W at load OR idle it seems.. well I never idle it!! hehehe
 
After doing some extensive research over the last few days I think the MSI Wind desktop may be a better bet than the Eee Box when it finally makes it's way to Europe (some German sites already have it listed).

The reasons why;

1. 1x 5.25" bay, 1x 3.5" bay (HDD + DVD or 2x HDD)
2. 2x SATA connectors on mobo
3. 945GSE chipset (lower power than the 945GC)
5. Should be cheaper than Eee Box.

Information is pretty thin on the ground but this link and google are our friends, a lot of German and Taiwanese(?) sites that say it'll have the 945gse chipset.

This link also shows the insides of it, it's an older article and the case (well the front at least) seems to have changed for the better in the German links above.

Hopefully if all that is true and it's available here soon then it'll be exactly the small, low power with internal storage setup that I'm looking for. Hope this helps you guys too :)
 
Tweaktown pics show a big heatsink (on the Northbridge). I think its NOT the GSE chipset which has been in laptops mainly so far. Also the quoted 35W power draw seems to support the ***** 945GC being used.

if it was GSE then the power draw would probably be around 20W (Eeebox is around 16W but uses a 2W 2.5" HDD vs a normal 3.5" HDD which is around 6W).

Pity.. (plus I hate the pink!) :confused:
 
Ah balls, nevermind, maybe they've updated it for the European market hence why the German sites mention the GSE? or they could just be wrong (the Germans).
The German sites also mention it has the Atom 270 rather than the 230 chip in the MSI page.

Well we can hope but it may well be :(
 
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i couldn't wait any longer so i bought one of the barebone system from one of the first UK companes that sold them, the power draw with a 2.5" samsung is 30w which im very happy with at least untill one comes out with less than 5w
 
lopkinfop said:
i couldn't wait any longer so i bought one of the barebone system from one of the first UK companes that sold them, the power draw with a 2.5" samsung is 30w which im very happy with at least untill one comes out with less than 5w
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What barebones system is that, the MSI?
 
I've just seen the release for the Pico-Itx, Intel System Controller Hub based atom board. Looks like it will be an extremely low power full desktop machine. It even runs off just 5V, thats the same as my mp3 player's charger. Google for PICO820 to see it.

Q4 release though, and you'll no doubt pay for the tiny size, but you could just put in a 16gb/32gb compact flash, plus 1gb SODIMM and have a full windows vista system on a board.
 
I'm really keen for a Dual Core Atom 330 based HTPC in a really small compact case, with a Bluray drive.

I want a 1080p capable Blu-ray media PC that doesn't cost the earth price wise and power consumption wise.

I think we are still probably 6 months or so away from that but eh, its getting closer. Wonder what the performance of these Atom dual cores will be like?
 
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