On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 10:37:25AM +0000, Dennis Dryden wrote:
On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 9:16 AM, Chris G cl@isbd.net wrote:
Re: my question yesterday about low power PC suppliers
I hunted around on Google for a while and found an article on the (venerable) "Tom's Hardware" site about building a low power, but capable, system.
They built a 4Gb, Intel core 2 duo system that consumed only around 30 watts when running. I've ordered bits for a similar system, it uses a FoxConn motherboard with Intel G31 chipset. My parts cost for a 4Gb system with 7400 processor (the most expensive bit, 7300 was out of stock) and a 500Gb hard disk was about £250.
Compared with Mini-ITX systems and/or Intel Atom based systems this seems good value to me and gives me lots more processor power and room for expansion (i.e. adding hard disks).
When the bits come and I've built it I will report its actual power consumption.
-- Chris Green
Wow 30 watts sounds very low. Id stay clear of Foxconn though, there Linux support has been quite poor in the past. It seems like they did try to fix the problem but at the start it seemed like they were trying to make there boards less stable on Linux: http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869249
It's an Intel chipset though which should be fairly OK for Linux, it's also hardly "bleeding edge" which should help.
There are alternative G31 based motherboards which should do almost as well (Tom's Hardware also tried a Gigabyte motherboard). If I get serious problems I can always try a different motherboard, they're only £30 or so for G31 based ones. However Tom's Hardware got the lowest power consumption with the FoxConn and it was cheap so I've gone for it.