Hi folks, First post here so be gentle! I've been away from building PCs for a few years now. However, given the huge strides that have been made forward with power consumption in the latest Sandybridge processors, I'm now wondering if my dream set up is feasible. I would like to replace my low-power server and main desktop machine with a single machine, so here's the challenge: Budget:<£800 Main uses of intended build: 24/7 Mail server, SVN server, Print Server, Scanner Server, DLNA Server, Backup Server Blu-ray playback, Digital TV recording, some video transcoding, Visual Studio development, Word, Internet Explorer Parts required: Complete System Previous build information (list details of parts): Will replace 2 systems: 1. VIA EPIA 5000, 512Mb RAM, 500Gb and 160Gb Hard drives, 17W idle power consumption. 2. Intel Q6600, 8Gb RAM, Radeon 3870, 2TB (4x500Gb) hard drives, 143W idle power consumption. Monitor resolution: 1920x1200 Storage requirements: Ideally 64Gb SSD for OS and about 2TB for data. will you be overclocking: no Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): None Extra information about desired system: The objective is to replace two systems with one new system. The target idle power consumption is around 35W or less if possible. If possible I would like to run the minimum number of fans too (ideally zero). I’m not overly worried about the physical size of the system. I don't play games so I'm also reasonably happy with integrated graphics (which I believe should help with the power consumption). Does this sound like a feasible objective with current technology or is it too ambitious? I'm struggling to find out real idle power consumptions for Sandybridge systems. I've been thinking about the new AMD E-350 systems too, but I suspect that they wouldn't be powerful enough to perform video transcoding. All thoughts and help appreciated ... I'm sure the expertise on this forum can soon rustle up a potential solution. Thanks in advance! Oldnail
So for £800 you want: - Complete silence - Extreme low power - Blu-ray playback (Inc software) - Descent video transcoding capability - SSD Boot drive - 2TB Data drive - A built in backup system (You mentioned it was your main system and the backup) - A 1920x1200 monitor - No reuse of any existing components? (You say you need a complete system) If I'm right from your requirements then £800 isn't going to do it. Why don't you just upgrade system 2) if it's not powerful enough (or is it?) and keep 1) as the server? But here's some other points: - Doing visual studio development on your server sounds like a terrible idea - Same goes for video transcoding - Ditto for having your workstation + backup solution running on the same hardware - 64GB is cutting it fine for OS + Apps you'll want on there - Do you really need an SSD for a machine that's going to be on 24/7? - You want zero fans (Therefore very cool running), complete silence and extreme low power but enough grunt to transcode video at a reasonable rate. Something's gotta give and if it isn't power or noise then it'll be your wallet.
I'd have the server as a separate machine, so it wouldn't interfere with anything you needed high performance for.
Well if you are going to sell the old parts it should be possible., But I have to agree with Deders. Might be worth waiting for Bulldozer.
Thanks for the comments everyone, they're very valuable. I realise that it's a bit of a challenge (as someone has commented, the next generation of AMD/Intel may provide the solution I'm after). In terms of what I would like, complete silence and low power would be the top priority. I could scavenge the Blu-ray drive and the software from my current system. Apologies for misleading everyone, but I do have the 1920x1200 monitor so I don't need that, sorry! My biggest issue with the Q6600 system that I have at the moment is the fact that it is quite noisy and the amount of idle power 143W. This seems to serve little purpose other than to heat the (very small) room that the computer is located in... great in the winter... not so good in the summer. In terms of performance, it's more than adequate for any work that I do. From a usage profile, the server is very lightly loaded, it serves email for 3 people, and does a nightly backup onto a USB hard drive of all the email plus important files. So I'm not overly concerned about using it for development/surfing/documents/transcoding at the same time. It's a good point about the SSD, I should only be booting the machine once in a blue moon, so if it blows the budget then it would be a good candidate for replacing with an ordinary hard drive. Since I posted yesterday, I've found this on the internet: http://www.aleutia.com/products/di5-core-i5-fanless-pc/ which looks pretty close to the basic spec that I'm after but obviously I'd like to build it myself and add the blu-ray, bigger drives etc.
