Looking for an quiet energy efficient PC

[Fiveohhh]

I'm looking to build up a PC just for web browsing and internet, and would to leave it on all the time. Anything faster than a 300 should be fine. I'm going to put a 10 gig drive in it and its going to use a 15" LCD. I'm wondering what proc/MB/PSU combo is gonna be cheapest to leave on all the time. Currently I leave my main on most of the time, but its kind of a power hog, and I normally am just surfing the net, or checking email(will keep the main for gaming and editing). I'd like to use passive cooling on the CPU to keep noise down.

 

[Cerb]

Get a quiet PSU, or mod one.
Beyond that, any decent PIII or AthlonXP board should do. Put a big ol' heatsink on and duct it through the rear case fan. Maybe even undervolt it mroe or underclock it. Integrated graphics, if your LCD does not have a DVI-D. If it does, then a cheap Radeon.

 

[RalfHutter2]

VIA Epia

 

[jhu]

definitely any via processor will do. they just need a heatsink and don't use more than 10w at full load. i'd go with a mini-itx board. if you really need a harddrive, go with a laptop harddrive since they use less energy.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: RalfHutter2
VIA Epia

I agree with the dupe account. 🙂

- M4H

 

[mechBgon]

Just to add some perspective to the power-$$ thing here: I got my last electric bill and my power consumption cost me $19.11

That includes:

• refrigerator
• coffeemaker 😀
• electric oven
• electric stove
• electric water heater
• dishwasher
• electric lights
• electric fans
• AND an mid-upper-end PC with a 17" CRT monitor, running 24/7 under full load (doing the Cancer Research DC project atm)

I don't know how much of the $19 is due to the PC but it can't be much. If you want to conserve electricity, see if you can snag a cheap 15" LCD monitor. As for a processor, maybe a Celeron II in the 566MHz-733MHz range, which have low heat production, but if you find a 1GHz Duron and you have some parts to run it, don't pass it up on the power-consumption reason.

In the winter, my power bill goes up into the $60-80 area due to the need for electric heat, so at that point the computer doubles as an electric heater that is capable of playing Mechwarrior4 Mercenaries 😀 Gonna use electricity to heat, might as well do something fun with it, right? And I see you live in Minnesota, Fiveohhh, so maybe you should shop for a Prescott :evil:

 

[Fiveohhh]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Just to add some perspective to the power-$$ thing here: I got my last electric bill and my power consumption cost me $19.11

That includes:

• refrigerator
• coffeemaker 😀
• electric oven
• electric stove
• electric water heater
• dishwasher
• electric lights
• electric fans
• AND an mid-upper-end PC with a 17" CRT monitor, running 24/7 under full load (doing the Cancer Research DC project atm)

I don't know how much of the $19 is due to the PC but it can't be much. If you want to conserve electricity, see if you can snag a cheap 15" LCD monitor. As for a processor, maybe a Celeron II in the 566MHz-733MHz range, which have low heat production, but if you find a 1GHz Duron and you have some parts to run it, don't pass it up on the power-consumption reason.

In the winter, my power bill goes up into the $60-80 area due to the need for electric heat, so at that point the computer doubles as an electric heater that is capable of playing Mechwarrior4 Mercenaries 😀 Gonna use electricity to heat, might as well do something fun with it, right? And I see you live in Minnesota, Fiveohhh, so maybe you should shop for a Prescott :evil:

$19 would be nice😛 mines 60-100 and I have a gas water heater and dryer, and only use A/C in one room😛 We use gas heat too. Just started a dehumidifier in the basement so will probably jump $40 more. I have my dual 1.4 P3 server next to my desk too, so might use that just for surfing since its always on anyway(would prefer not too though).

Thanks for the ideas gonna see what I can find, worse comes to worse I have an extra 1800+ and MB I can use.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Fiveohhh
dual 1.4 P3 server

*chubby*

:heart: Tualatins.

- M4H

 

[trexpesto]

Laptop, awww they just sold out at w**t. It was $350. Talk about your low power requirements, plus comes with lcd...

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Woot is not a banned word.

- M4H

 

[Fiveohhh]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: Fiveohhh
dual 1.4 P3 server

*chubby*

:heart: Tualatins.

- M4H

Shes my baby😀

Now that I think about it I have a lappy that the backlight on the lcd burnt out. I think I have a docking bar for it....might just hook that up to the 15"...

 

[0roo0roo]

not much beats a laptop i guess. cpu throttling etc.

 

[vegetation]

Laptops are certainly power efficient, at least the half-decent ones. My old Dell Inspiron P3-900 idles at like 23 watts, that's including the panel and hard drive on. Even at full cpu power, it was under 50 watts. For typical internet stuff, you're not going to tax the cpu much, even with an old P3.