Cheap Rig focussed on Power Efficiency for Internet Use

[MetalheadGautham]

Hullo,

Planning to replace the insides of my Pentium 4 Desktop to reduce insane power bills @ home. It serves following purposes:

• Browse Internet
• Check EMail
• Play songs
• Watch rented DVD movies
• Play browser-based online flash games

Any recommendations ? Wanna go for Intel Atom or VIA Nano, since this machine will be used for 7-8 hours a day. No gaming and no power-use needed. Power consumption should be minimal. Already removed old CRT and put in an LCD to reduce power consumption. It should be as easy on the power consumption front as an efficient laptop.

What I need:

• CPU
• Motherboard
• DDR3 RAM (will buy the cheapest 4GB stick available)
• Low wattage and high efficiency PSU (power efficiency is the key)
• IDE to SATA cables (to continue using old 80GB HDD, Floppy Drive and a Combo Drive and a DVD Writer) - how much do they cost ?
• Cheapest possible case (if I am unable to clean and remove dust from current case)
• Windows 8 CP Will be Installed

Request suggestions.

[Sainatarajan]

What is your max budget.
G620
ASUS P8H61 M LX
4 GB DDR3 CORSAIR Value RAM .
Corsair CX430 V2
This will cost less than 10K .

[MetalheadGautham]

What is your max budget.
G620
ASUS P8H61 M LX
4 GB DDR3 CORSAIR Value RAM .
Corsair CX430 V2
This will cost less than 10K .

No fixed budget but should be reasonable. And the config you just stated has almost identical power draw to my Pentium 4 CPU (65 watts).

What I need is a good Atom or Bobcat or Nano based setup. Needs to be very low on TDP.

[ArjunKiller]

Checkout this thread buddy: CM ELITE 100 with Intel D425KT - A Basic 24 x 7 DL RIG

[saswat23]

Then you should probably get this: Viotech 3200+ Version 6.x / VIA VX900 Chipset / VIA C7-D 1.8 GHz Processor | Combo Motherboard | Flipkart.com
Comes with 2GB DDR3 RAM, so just add another 2GB DDR3 RAM when you need. It also has a PCIe 2.0 slot, so you can add a low end GPU like GT-520 for HD videos, if you feel the internal graphics is not sufficient. None of the Intel Atom combo boards are as feature rich as this one.

Just get a good PSU like CX-430v2 or VS-450. If you find a FSP SAGA-II 350 for around 1.5k, then its a good choice too.

For case CM ELite 100 will cost around 3k, so you can go with Zebronics Slim Series or Mini ITX series: Cabinets - Zebronics - Always Ahead - Largest Range of Peripherals
All cost around 1.5k.

[MetalheadGautham]

Then you should probably get this: Viotech 3200+ Version 6.x / VIA VX900 Chipset / VIA C7-D 1.8 GHz Processor | Combo Motherboard | Flipkart.com
Comes with 2GB DDR3 RAM, so just add another 2GB DDR3 RAM when you need. It also has a PCIe 2.0 slot, so you can add a low end GPU like GT-520 for HD videos, if you feel the internal graphics is not sufficient. None of the Intel Atom combo boards are as feature rich as this one.

Just get a good PSU like CX-430v2 or VS-450. If you find a FSP SAGA-II 350 for around 1.5k, then its a good choice too.

For case CM ELite 100 will cost around 3k, so you can go with Zebronics Slim Series or Mini ITX series: Cabinets - Zebronics - Always Ahead - Largest Range of Peripherals
All cost around 1.5k.

I doubt I'll play HD videos EVER on this rig, so I can safely forget about a GPU.

How is VIA driver support on Windows ? I don't care about Linux support because this will be a home rig and I don't want to be customer support

Oh and it seems like VIA C7-D consumes 20 watts of power. 1.8GHz single core Atom seems lighter. Isn't Gigabyte GA-D425TUD Combo Motherboard | Combo Motherboard | Flipkart.com a better buy since its also cheaper ?

Is there any 200W or 100W PSU available ? A low-power system wouldn't need more right ? And would such an option be more efficient (on power consumption) than a 450W PSU ? I need to bring down electricity consumption to bare minimum.

What does IDE to SATA cable cost ? I intend to reuse stuff from existing rig as much as possible hence I'll need atleast 4 such cables.

[saswat23]

Except for having a PCIe 2.0 slot the Gigabyte GA-D425TUD Combo Motherboard seems to be a better choice.
BTW any idea which among the two combos has better graphics?

Finding 100W-200W PSU is very difficult, but if you buy any of those Zeb. Cabinets, they will supply you with a 200W or 250W PSU.

IDE-SATA converters cost around 150 bucks.

If you check reviews in flipkart, it seems VIA has good Windows support.

k, check th Gigabyte GA-D425TUD Combo properly, it has an IDE port too. So, need of buying IDE-SATA converters.

[ssk_the_gr8]

I've used the via, its good for daily use, I would recommend it

[MetalheadGautham]

Except for having a PCIe 2.0 slot the Gigabyte GA-D425TUD Combo Motherboard seems to be a better choice.
BTW any idea which among the two combos has better graphics?

Finding 100W-200W PSU is very difficult, but if you buy any of those Zeb. Cabinets, they will supply you with a 200W or 250W PSU.

IDE-SATA converters cost around 150 bucks.

If you check reviews in flipkart, it seems VIA has good Windows support.

k, check th Gigabyte GA-D425TUD Combo properly, it has an IDE port too. So, need of buying IDE-SATA converters.

I guess Intel GMA 3150 should have better graphics than any VIA Unichrome IGP. But as long as its better than my ageing Intel GMA 900 I don't mind. I'm sure it will effortlessly play DVD Videos.

I need an IDE-SATA converter because ALL of my current drives are IDE. Just 1 IDE port not enough to accommodate 4 devices.

Zeb cabbie supplied 200-250W PSU wouldn't have enough efficiency and it would draw double power than that output to CPU hence I'm not considering it.

OK so anyone tried Windows 8 (or 7) on single core Atom systems ??

[MetalheadGautham]

I found this deal: Intel D2500HN Combo Motherboard | Combo Motherboard | Flipkart.com

Is the price worth or can I get it cheaper elsewhere ? Thinking of ordering it...