Low Power Computing

[LightForce]

(Note: This is not a post about distributed computing, as it may seem at first.)

I've recently become involved in a distributed computing project, and the client currently runs on the family computer. I would really like to have the client run 24/7/365, but various factors keep this from being possible. While thinking over this problem, I had an idea: build (or purchase) a low-power-consumption dedicated distributed computing node. My idea has gone no further because my knowledge of low-power computing is very limited. I've researched the Crusoe, and I've heard of PC/104, and that's the extent of my knowledge.

And so, I ask you all, what resources exist for learning about low-power computing, and for building low-power computers? What architectures, processors, and hardware exist, who manufactures them? What experiences have you had with low-power computers? At this point in my idea/project, I'm seeking information, advice, and guidance. Anything anyone has to offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

~~LightForce

 

[FishTankX]

The PIII Tualatin is a very formidable power, not cheap, but powerful and sometimes with undervolting/clocking can be run fanless. Low power draw. Established architecture.

The Tualatin Celeron is a very low power chip, if you undervolt it it can run without a fan. 100MHZ FSB limits speed. Low power draw. Established architecture.


The Via C3 is a very good chip for it's power level, it's slow but it can run without a fan and in some situations without a heatsink. Extremley low power, not so established brand name/architecture but i'm not sure of it's distributed computing performance.

The Ultimate low power number cruncher is the G4 mac. Dual 1GHZ G4's (fanless, taking about 15 watts each) running RC5 will outpace a Dual 2.4GHZ Xeon... (using 75 watts each), it's absurd!

The most powerful low power processors are the mobile PentiumIII .13 micron Tualatins with 512K of cache. Those things run fanless, run ~1.2GHZ, draw about 10 watts of power, and are damned expensive.

 

[LightForce]

Thanks for the info. I've also heard of a "low voltage" Pentium III. I know that Sony uses it in at least one of their VAIO ultralight laptops, the PCG-SRX87. Is this the same thing as the last processor you mentioned?

Anyway, any more advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

~~LF

 

[FishTankX]

That is incorrect.
"Thanks for the info. I've also heard of a "low voltage" Pentium III. I know that Sony uses it in at least one of their VAIO ultralight laptops, the PCG-SRX87. Is this the same thing as the last processor you mentioned?"

The Tualatin PentiumIII .13 micron 512K of cache runs on a stock mobile voltage (slightly reduced from desktop) and has pretty low power consumption, but it's still higher than a Via C3 (ofcourse, it has much higher performance)

PentiumIII Low voltage versions run on an agressivley lowered voltage in an effort to save as much power consumption as possible. an ULV PentiumIII 900MHZ might have a power consmption (Of watts) measured in the low single digit range

Here's a general rule.

Half the voltage, half the max clockspeed. Thus, it is extremley extremley difficult to make high speed low voltage processors. Which is why they're so mad expensive.

Some of the ULV (ultra low voltage) PentiumIII's might only use 2 watts and run at 700MHZ!!! That's kickin the crap outa a crusoe.. on both fronts... (Power consmption, and performance)

If it intrests you, there's a super computer capable of 100GFLOPS (probably about 64 processors) built from low voltage PentiumIII's. It's 64 processors are cooled by a 5 killowatt airconditioning and require no active cooling. How's that for efficent computing?! It's called Green Destiny.

 

[marcio]

Via C3 T-Ezra 800MHz (5W consumption) with a notebook hard drive (<3W) in an integrated motherboard. Even a notebook might not beat that. 10 of these will consume less power than one typical P4 machine with 7,200 rpm drive. But depending on the application, 10 of them might still be slower than one P4 machine, but for low power consumption, it's great...

While researching this, I realized that Intel most likely had to sacrifice power consumption (and thus heat) to be able to compete with AMD after the Athlon. For example, did you know that the PIII-600MHz has the same maximum power dissipation as the original Pentium running at 60MHz?