Low Power / Silent PC

byrnenj

Hi,

this isn't exactly a tweaking / modding issue but I am looking for a low power comsumtion, low noise PC.

I'm pretty sure i'm going to have to put this machine together myself so I was wondering if people had any ideas.
The PC will be used as a server (web / mail / experimental )only. So really all i need is Case, MB, HD, RAM, CPU Network card and a CD-ROM while I install the OS (Debian).

I'm thinking about something like this :

• Power supply ( 90W should be enough...i think)
• Motherboard, mostly integrated (only need network port)
• Duron or Athlon (would prefer to stick to AMD)
• 128 / 256 Ram
• 40 GB HD

Anybody any ideas on this?
Want it to be as silent as possible so I will probably get a fanless heatsink. I suppose power supply and HD will make the most noise after that!
Is there a difference in power consumption on Durons and Athlons. As an uneducated guess, i'd say an Athlon might use more power.

Any ideas on where i might get stuff like this apart from the usual komplett, marx-computers, overclocker.co.uk etc.
Think Power supply might be hardest to find.

RicardoSmith

Look for people with seti farms. They usually are building a few machines and want to run them as quietly and economically as possible. With a minimal of cost of purchase and also of running (electricity costs).

For example read this thread.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17217739

CombatCow

As regards the cpu power usage :

AMD Athlon / Duron 900 MHz-1.1 GHz 50W

AMD Athlon 1.2 GHz - 1.4 GHz 55 - 65W

AMD Athlon/ T-Bird/ XP 1.4 - 2.4 GHz 60 - 85W

==================================

5400 RPM IDE Hard Drive 10W

7200 RPM IDE Hard Drive 13W

==================================

12X or higher IDE CD-RW Drive 25W

32X or higher IDE CD-ROM Drive 20W

10x or higher IDE DVD-ROM Drive 20W

==================================

128 MB RAM 10W

256 MB RAM 20W

512 MB RAM 35 - 40W

==================================


What are you going to use the pc for may i ask ?


CombatCow

byrnenj

It's going to be used as a server, but it will be sitting in my bedroom!
So it will never be off, and i want to get a decent nights sleep.

Generally I'm looking to keep the electricity bill and noise down to a minimum.

All of those Wattages listed above, should I add together the components that I will be using to get the power supply I need, or do I just need to pick the highest wattage of the installed components?

strat

check out the gear at www.mini-itx.com
latest one is a 1.2 gig chip but but prolly woudlnt be as powerful as a duron at the same speed, they also do 60 and 110 watt PSU's with no fans- need an external power brick tho

byrnenj

Interesting!

They are nice and small.
I wonder what sort of support those MB's and processors would have on Linux though. However, the Hush ATX (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/configure.asp?sid=HUSH-ATX) looks interesting.

Bit expensive though, and dont really want a celeron!

Superman

hi, keep me posted on how this goes cause i was thinking of doing the same thing BTW is debian hard to learn? sorry if it sounds stupid