Low-Power Home Server Components - Onboard Intel HD 2000 ???

[Fun Guy]

Hello Gents -

I have decided to offload some tasks onto a home server (file serving, my 24-hour fax via WinFaxPro, and maybe a 24-hour webcam on my bird feeders) and let my main power machine hibernate/sleep when I'm not using it. I figure that will lower my power bill and save my higher-priced components I'm buying for the power moe-sheen.

This machine will be low-power, but not low-capability. The CPU at its heart will be this baby:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115094
Intel Core i3-2120T
Sandy Bridge 2.6GHz
2 x 256KB L2 Cache
3MB L3 Cache
LGA 1155 35W
Dual-Core Desktop Processor
BX80623I32120T

I will be using a cheap 22" 1920 x 1080 monitor (which will be off most of the time), so no need for wow-wow video. Now, the chip has that built-in Intel HD Graphics 2000 stuff, so what does that mean as far as....?

The boards I was looking at are here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100007627&IsNodeId=1&PropertyCodeValue=705%3A88788%2C706%3A153691%2C706%3A94320%2C706%3A88789%2C727%3A47036%2C727%3A10689%2C727%3A34404%2C727%3A20581%2C727%3A47153%2C727%3A11340%2C727%3A55530%2C727%3A28042%2C727%3A48086%2C727%3A19237%2C727%3A160766%2C2368%3A20724%2C2368%3A14899%2C2368%3A14897%2C2368%3A44488%2C757%3A7619&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-138-296^13-138-296-TS%2C13-131-711^13-131-711-TS%2C13-157-233^13-157-233-TS%2C13-131-712^13-131-712-TS%2C13-131-713^13-131-713-TS

I picked them because they have on-board video...but do I need that if Intel has on-board graphics? Is there a special PCI card that enables the Intel HD Graphics? I'm more than a little confused. Can anyone help?

Thanks!!

 

[Vincent]

All of the boards you picked should work. You need motherboard support for the HD2000 in your CPU.

 

[philosofool]

Basically, any H60 or Z60 series motherboard will have a graphics out. An H61 board is probably all you need for a home server.

Honestly, for a home server, I don't see why you don't get an Intel G620T. Maybe I'm under estimating the power needs your camera will demand, but a 2.6 GHz with 4 virtual cores seems like overkill for a home server. Why not go with a dual core at 2.2GHz instead, and save $50?

 

[Emulex]

no kidding with old core2quad boxens going used for $100 - the old school stuff isn't bad. undervolted and gated like 40-60 watts idle and alot of mojo when you need to rip,transcode dynamic to your (phone/friends), torrent, dlna,etc.

so like an atom might be 10 watts idle but it would have to burn alot of 100% and never keep up with a smaller quad core. the 50 watts? i mean you could convert to all CFL's to make up - it doesn't make sense to be too underpowered if you can use virtualization to dump many tasks on a single server.

 

[DaveSimmons]

If you look at the SilentPCReview comparison of the i3-2100 and -2100T, they are about the same for idle and load power use. So you can save $20 ($10 off promo at the egg right now) and get an i3-2100 instead.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/intel-2100t-2400s

.. or as mentioned consider a socket 1155 dual-core pentium for under $100.

 

[dclive]

Buying more stuff is fine, but power usage, even of higher end hardware, is pretty cheap compared to buying new hardware. Before you buy, figure out what it would cost per month to run the current box 24x7, subtract the expected cost of running the new box 24x7, and figure out how long it will take to make your money back.

I'm guessing ... a decade? Half a decade? Not immediately, by any stretch....

 

[Fun Guy]

Buying more stuff is fine, but power usage, even of higher end hardware, is pretty cheap compared to buying new hardware. Before you buy, figure out what it would cost per month to run the current box 24x7, subtract the expected cost of running the new box 24x7, and figure out how long it will take to make your money back.

I'm guessing ... a decade? Half a decade? Not immediately, by any stretch....

The electric bill is part of it, but heat, noise, blinking lights, smaller form factor possibilities, as well as more (computing) power for less (electrical) power, are all factors I am taking into consideration when doing this. When I said "power bill" in my OP, I was only giving part of the story. :biggrin:

 

[dclive]

Well if that's the case, just get the $599 Mac Mini (i5) and you're good to go - tiny FF, incredibly lower power usage, no noise, no ugly blinking lights, no heat.

But it'll take a decade to start to save money, and you likely would only keep it 2-3 years. That's what gets me about the "save electrical power -> money" crowd; it's a misnomer.

 

[dclive]

http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/apple-mac-mini-2/4505-3118_7-34850078-2.html?tag=rvwBody

Yearly electrical cost, Mac Mini i5 + Radeon graphics: $8
Yearly electrical cost, similar Lenovo PC: $20
Difference: $12

Cost to buy new Mac Mini i5: $750
Years to break even: 62 years

Even if we assume the lower end Mac mini i5 with built-in graphics and less power spend:

Yearly electrical cost, Mac Mini i5 + built-in gfx: $6 (based on cNet commentary)
Yearly electrical cost, similar Lenovo PC: $20
Difference: $14

Cost to buy new Mac Mini i5: $550
Years to break even: 39 years

Even if we assume your old PC uses triple the power of the Lenovo, we're still talking about a break-even period of a decade.

Food for thought for those (I understand you have other reasons) that argue power-savings as a reason to buy a new PC.

 

[Fun Guy]

http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/apple-mac-mini-2/4505-3118_7-34850078-2.html?tag=rvwBody

Yearly electrical cost, Mac Mini i5 + Radeon graphics: $8
Yearly electrical cost, similar Lenovo PC: $20
Difference: $12

Cost to buy new Mac Mini i5: $750
Years to break even: 62 years

Even if we assume the lower end Mac mini i5 with built-in graphics and less power spend:

Yearly electrical cost, Mac Mini i5 + built-in gfx: $6 (based on cNet commentary)
Yearly electrical cost, similar Lenovo PC: $20
Difference: $14

Cost to buy new Mac Mini i5: $550
Years to break even: 39 years

Even if we assume your old PC uses triple the power of the Lenovo, we're still talking about a break-even period of a decade.

Food for thought for those (I understand you have other reasons) that argue power-savings as a reason to buy a new PC.

Interesting math. Where do you figure in the cost of the Lenovo?

 

[dclive]

Interesting math. Where do you figure in the cost of the Lenovo?

Cnet. It's directly on the page linked.

The same math applies to cars. I can only roll my eyes at the people with big SUVs who buy little cars to try to "save money on gas". That they might, but overall, unless they're a taxi driver putting 50k mi/year on a car, overall they're losing money - usually a lot of it. The cost of a car, overall, typically dwarfs the incremental cost of buying more gasoline for a bigger vehicle.

 

[Fun Guy]

Cnet. It's directly on the page linked.

You missed it. Regardless, please delete your thread-crapping posts and take your pet topic elsewhere. You are contributing nothing to my original topic.

 

[dclive]

I didn't miss it - the price of the Lenovo isn't important - it's a sunk cost, as it's a stand-in for the PC you already own (which consumes more power than the mini); there's no need to re-add the price, as you already own the PC.

The ongoing cost is reflected in the article.

 

[Fun Guy]

I didn't miss it - the price of the Lenovo isn't important - it's a sunk cost, as it's a stand-in for the PC you already own (which consumes more power than the mini); there's no need to re-add the price, as you already own the PC.

The ongoing cost is reflected in the article.

If you had one iota of reading comprehension you would have noticed that I said I'm building a server, not using an existing machine.

Again, please delete your moronic posts, or I will be forced to kill the whole thread.

 

[sep]

This is an old post, but how did the 2120T turn out for you? I'm consider purchasing this for my WHS.

 

[wirednuts]

its way overkill for what he wanted to do imo. an e350/e450 setup would have done the job easily and saved even more power every month.