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| Thread ID: 85170 | 2007-12-02 05:54:00 | Building an energy-efficient PC | rod (13086) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 617345 | 2007-12-04 23:28:00 | Thanks to all for your feedback. As to my requirements - I want to have my cake and eat it too. That is I want a desktop that will use as little power as possible but have a good performance running mostly productivity software - office, internet, some video, DVD playback. Also TV if it can be done without upping the power requirements too much. I am not into games, so I don't need a power-hungry video card, but my eyesight is not what it was, so I want a good 19 inch or better monitor. The new iMac looks to be the sort of machine that fits my requirements, although it is a bit pricey and I haven't found any actual figures on power use (comments winmacguy?). Pete O.Neil and JUST INSANE: Thanks for the recommendations. Most of the time I would be doing undemanding tasks, just occasionally more demanding tasks, though I may do more in future. The motherboard/CPU combination seems to be the key. I like the idea of the integrated video powerful enough to run Vista. The Athlon X2 BE/AMD 690 looks promising. I found a similar setup using an ASUS motherboard at a UK site http://www.yourpcholmfirth.co.uk/ The iMac seems to use a Core2 Duo with ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO video on a hybrid desktop/laptop-style motherboard. Tom's hardware has a lot of good information, but I haven't found a way of getting info on good motherboard/CPU/video combination without getting vast quantities of info individual components. Any suggestions? Rod |
rod (13086) | ||
| 617346 | 2007-12-05 03:46:00 | The HP dc5750 "GreenPC" reviewed at www.gcn.com also had a 2.4 GHz Advanced Micro Devices Athlon 64 3800+ processor and praises the active power factor correction (PFC) type power supply used in the Green PC line. Most systems, if they have PFC at all, contain a passive PFC, which is not nearly as efficient as the active type found in the dc5750 and the rest of the greener lineup. The HP system we tested achieved 80 percent efficiency, whereas most systems peak at only about 65 percent. Not surprisingly, active PFC power supplies cost a lot more than the passive types. But these increased costs do not seem to have been passed on in the dc5750. Anybody know how to identify which PSUs have active PFC and how much extra they cost without checking the specs of each? Rod |
rod (13086) | ||
| 617347 | 2007-12-05 03:51:00 | Thanks to all for your feedback. As to my requirements - I want to have my cake and eat it too. That is I want a desktop that will use as little power as possible but have a good performance running mostly productivity software - office, internet, some video, DVD playback. Also TV if it can be done without upping the power requirements too much. I am not into games, so I don't need a power-hungry video card, but my eyesight is not what it was, so I want a good 19 inch or better monitor. The new iMac looks to be the sort of machine that fits my requirements, although it is a bit pricey and I haven't found any actual figures on power use (comments winmacguy?). Rod Tech specs here Just depends whether you want the 20" or 24" When not in use it has a very good Sleep mode. www.apple.com |
winmacguy (3367) | ||
| 617348 | 2007-12-05 03:59:00 | I normally regard PFC is not a really big deal just to be on the safe side buy processors with lower nano meter rating to really reduce power usage. AMD is stuck with 65 nanometer problems. Intel is currently holding the league with 45 nanometer. So in conclusion AMD's processors except the new Phenon series hold Cool'n Quiet first generation is only a performance hog. While Intel has a better structure, since the 2140, 2160 and 2180 uses the same core as conroe with lower memory cache. Still 1 MB of memory cache can still reduce memory latency. |
JUST INSANE (6682) | ||
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