help reducing power consuption on HTPC

wethead4

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Aug 8, 2013
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Hello everyone, i was hoping to get some help in reducing power in an HTPC I built in 2010 that is on 24/7. I tested it at idle with a volt meter and it sucks about 100 watts. Here is what I have:

4gb ram
Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
3 Hard drives (non-ssd)
Athlon II X4 630
A780L Socket AM2_/AM3 760G mATX Motherboard
8400GS
GeForce 8400 GS 1 GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI/HDMI/VGA Graphics Card

Would upgrading to a platinum PSU be the best route or upgrading my processor? Probably should have gone with an i3. Any help much appreciated!
 
Solution

gamingboy

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May 5, 2012
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How much money are you willing to spend on upgrades? You could go all the way and get a new Haswell chip if you really wanted. But the money you'd save on electricity would never pay off the CPU.

Underclocking and undervolting your CPU will reduce heat and power consumption. It might be the best thing you can do in terms of power consumption.
 

SNA3

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depends on your budget .. you can go as low as 17 watts i3 1.9G using ulv i7 with HD4000 onboard and will run movies smooth.

i3 with HD 4000 , 3.4 and 3.3 G are at 55 watts only.

Haswell CPU have HD4600 , and the i5 starts at 35 watts (your best choice)

and for HTPC dont get anythng lower than HD4000

here are your choices :

1- Intel Core i5-4570T, 2x 2.90GHz with HT , HD 4600 , 35 Watts.

2- Intel Core i3-3225 and Intel Core i3-3245 , HD 4000, 3.3 and 3.4 GHZ , 55 watts

3- Intel ULV i3/i5/i7 ULV , 17 watts , i3-3227U, 2x 1.90GHz is your cheap choice

I would say go with the Haswell .. better Graphics and 35 watts only
 
Using the PhenomMSRTweaker utility you should be able to reduce the lowest P-State of your Propus quad at idle to 0.9v. Use CPUz to check your processor volts at idle.

And, being that your GeForce GS 8400 is a bit old, it likely pulls 20w at idle, too -- nothing you can do about that except replace it.

 

wethead4

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Aug 8, 2013
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Thanks for the quick replys.... I heard undervolting would help, but not much, and underclocking won't reduce power consuption, but instead lower the wattage but require more time to complete tasks. is this correct?

I'm willing to spend 100 to 200$ hoping to salvage anything i have already. Would I have to replace my ram in addition to board and CPU if i went that route?
 

wethead4

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Aug 8, 2013
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I just bought the GS 8400 so I can probably still return it. Do you have a recommendation for a low powered nvidea card?

I had a geforce 430gt but apparantly the geforce line stuttering issues when displaying certain content through my ceton infinitv card
 

SNA3

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is you Ram DDR3 or DDR 2 ?
 

wethead4

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Aug 8, 2013
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Are there any video cards that are energy efficient or the only way around that is to get a motherboard with onboard video and hdmi out? I'll check on the VCore when I get home tonight.
 

SNA3

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here is a good route for you

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Idqn

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3225 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI H77MA-G43 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $241.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-08 10:49 EDT-0400)

55 watts , HD4000 ...
 
Solution
Don't mean to deviate from efficient parts, but is their a reason it needs to run 24/7? Might be better off throwing in an SSD for the OS to sit on that way you can either shut it down or put it to sleep and when you need it then it's ready to go in a matter of seconds.
 

wethead4

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Aug 8, 2013
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I tried going that route, but i use this as the main htpc with tuner card with xbox 360 extenders connected to it. I haven't been able to figure out a way to get the xbox 360s to WOL properly.
 

wethead4

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Aug 8, 2013
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ugh, so no bluray playback when undervolting? but if I move to an I3 with onboard video i should be ok? Theres no better chip to use thats compatible with the motherboard socket i already have?
 

SNA3

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i3 has quickSync Video Encoding it is very fast. .. try undervaluing and see no rush ...
 


That's crap.

And, you should offer actual solutions to the OP instead of shilling for Intel product.

The OP should take the following actions:

1) Under-volt the Propus quad to 0.9v; and
2) Replace the 8400 GS, if possible.

Replace the 8400 GS will offer the maximum benefit as it idles at 20w and it is questionable as to whether it provides adequate DXVA hardware acceleration for modern codecs, anyway.

An HD 6450 ($30) or GT430 ($40) will provide hardware acceleration which substantially reduces any CPU utilization on nearly all video streams including on 3D Blu-Ray playback and will consume much less wattage at idle than the older model 8400 GS.

As a matter of fact, it is questionable whether the 8400 GS provides any hardware acceleration on Blu-Ray, FLV or even DivX media.





 

SNA3

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crap yourself ok ? and mind your business . did I Attack your Advice ? I even said try it and see.

and you are adding MORE power ? Adding him another CARD ? while Intel works MAX at 55W TDP ?

any way go CRAP yourself and avoid attacking other people Advice .
 

wethead4

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Aug 8, 2013
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Thanks for the advice on the card, i had the gt430 (which i replaced with the 8400gs b/c of stuttering issues with certain channels on my infinitv card). but i'll check out the 6450. I'll try undervolting tonight and report back with results.
 

wethead4

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Aug 8, 2013
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20130809_000014.jpg


See pick above, i was originally at 1.1+ volts, at idle it was running at about 90 watts. i got the vcore down to .89 and now i'm running at about 75-80 watts at idle. so far its been stable when watching hdtv, haven't tried a bluray yet. I just want to confirm i did this correctly. i reduced the core multis p3 to 4.0 to get the vcore down. but didn't touch any of the other Ps (P0,P1,P2,P4.). Have no idea what they do. Did i do it correctly?

hmm, not sure how to get the picture to show up.
 


Very good , sir. You done good.

P3 (or, maybe P4) is the *lowest* P-State for power consumption ... P0 is the state for full load.

AMD minimum volt spec for the CPU is 0.9v ... you might be able to go lower with no issues (and did), but be on the lookout for crazy behavior coming out of sleep/hibernation when you do so.

You were needlessly spooked on your Blu-Ray. If you see any spikes above idle in your CPU utilization during Blu-Ray playback, you have an issue with your GeForce 8400 GS or video drivers/codecs. Your video card (properly enabled) should off-load Blu-Ray processing from the CPU.

That said, I seem to recall nVidia may have been caught 'fudging' some specs on H.264 (Blu-Ray) hardware acceleration with some early models of the GeForce 8400 GS. You need to install the nVidia *PureVideo* codec package, and performance may be dinged somewhat without using their approved media players. The same (potential) issue(s) may exist with your Centon Tuner if you are seeing spikes in your CPU utilization when watching/recording HDTV. You should verify that the Centon Tuner is properly configured using the GeForce 8400 GS media decoders to reduce CPU utilization.

The 'stuttering' issue with your tuner/GT430 likely was a media decoder problem, but I cannot help you, there. I've owned/used/abused every tuner card in existence except the Centon :D

Your big *power-hawg* at the moment is the GeForce 8400 GS. A video card like the Radeon HD 6450 will idle at 6w and pull roughly 15w during Blu-Ray playback using the AMD Media Codec Package, seriously outperforming the GeForce 8400 GS in power efficiency at idle and playback.

That's not a knock on nVidia ... the GeForce 8400 GS is simply a 'less-modern' model. If you are an nVidia guy, the GT430 should have worked for you - unless there are simply 'issues' with it playing well with the Centon tuner.