Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

I know that this is an overclocker newsgroup but for sure
you guys have a lot of experience in tweaking computers.
To begin with, I am looking for a low power server just
for personal needs. So a few hundred MHz should be enough.

Is there any way to stick to my favorite brand AMD and
still get a system that runs with a few watts?
The Geode processors are still unavailable and I was
thinking of underclocking a usual Athlon XP or maybe the
mobile version.

If anyone has any experience with that, I would be grateful
for hardware recommendations. As you can imagine a project
like that needs a Mainboard that supports very low VCores.
Passive cooled PSU etc.

Goals are:
- Internet sharing W-Lan (DSL Connection)
- Web and Mail server
- passive cooling of all components, complete silence
no moving parts
- maybe just flash memory instead of a hard drive
- reliability

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

Whow thanx a lot for the detailed answer!

These were just the links and tips I
needed in order to get started.

I think my old router can retire

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

What is your goal wrt power consumption? Is the "just a few watts"
for the whole system measured at mains (difficult!), or the
final consumption of the cpu?

I built a system with similar goals, to run as a 24x7 webserver
and dsl router (now software VoIP station too) and looked
at the matter in some detail. In the end I went for a Via Epia
board with 533MHz Eden CPU and am quite happy with the result.
I chose the Via Sereneti case and replaced the standard PSU
with a 12V DC/DC model.

I doubt you will get a lower power consumption with an AMD
chip, perhaps with the right Pentium mobile cpu (speedstep)
though that limits the choice and availability of motherboards
dramatically.

Of course the choice of PSU is also quite critical in the final
power consumption. You can also save power with a 2.5" HDD
or even a CF/IDE solution rather than a standard HDD.
I also established after detailed
measurements that surprisingly (to me anyway) components
like optical drives and floppy drives also use significant amounts
of power, even when not in use. Disabling stuff like sound on the
motherboard could save a watt or two as well.

Anyway, perhaps that's of a little interest.
David


"Hannes Mautz" <hannes.mautz@_REMOVE_inode.at> wrote in message news:420a87be$1@e-post.inode.at...
> I know that this is an overclocker newsgroup but for sure
> you guys have a lot of experience in tweaking computers.
> To begin with, I am looking for a low power server just
> for personal needs. So a few hundred MHz should be enough.
>
> Is there any way to stick to my favorite brand AMD and
> still get a system that runs with a few watts?
> The Geode processors are still unavailable and I was
> thinking of underclocking a usual Athlon XP or maybe the
> mobile version.
>
> If anyone has any experience with that, I would be grateful
> for hardware recommendations. As you can imagine a project
> like that needs a Mainboard that supports very low VCores.
> Passive cooled PSU etc.
>
> Goals are:
> - Internet sharing W-Lan (DSL Connection)
> - Web and Mail server
> - passive cooling of all components, complete silence
> no moving parts
> - maybe just flash memory instead of a hard drive
> - reliability

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

I thought about taking an VIA Epia,
the only disadvantage of this platform
is, that its almost impossible to
upgrade anything.
Its just a pity that AMD is still
holding its Geode processors back.

A Centrino based system is an option,
but a serious overkill for a low level
server.
Right now I am sitting in front of
my laptop, the CPU is running stable at
0,7 Volts at 600 MHz, (1.6 GHz@1V).
Thats quite nice (and silent too)

Lets see, I still have some time to
think about it. Right now I have
absolutely no time for playing with
computers. (University is taking all
my time)

So thanx for the suggestions I will
post my final results when I am done
with this project.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

Hannes Mautz wrote:
> I know that this is an overclocker newsgroup but for sure
> you guys have a lot of experience in tweaking computers.
> To begin with, I am looking for a low power server just
> for personal needs. So a few hundred MHz should be enough.
>
> Is there any way to stick to my favorite brand AMD and
> still get a system that runs with a few watts?
> The Geode processors are still unavailable and I was
> thinking of underclocking a usual Athlon XP or maybe the
> mobile version.
>
> If anyone has any experience with that, I would be grateful
> for hardware recommendations. As you can imagine a project
> like that needs a Mainboard that supports very low VCores.
> Passive cooled PSU etc.
>
> Goals are:
> - Internet sharing W-Lan (DSL Connection)
> - Web and Mail server
> - passive cooling of all components, complete silence
> no moving parts
> - maybe just flash memory instead of a hard drive
> - reliability


Hi,.. I have been trying to get my power consumption down and did this
with an athlon xp-m 2500 and abit nf7-s mb.
My pc is on 24/7 and with the help of 8rdavcore
http://www.hasw.net/8rdavcore/ I lower my vcore and fsb to 1,1volt and
133fsb when i'm not using the pc. I could probably passively cool this
but never tried it,.. I use watercooling and my proc gets down to water
temp witch is ambient.
Hope this info helps you somehow,..

--
"Suicide hotline,.. please hold,.."

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

> Hi,.. I have been trying to get my power consumption down and did this
> with an athlon xp-m 2500 and abit nf7-s mb.
> My pc is on 24/7 and with the help of 8rdavcore
> http://www.hasw.net/8rdavcore/ I lower my vcore and fsb to 1,1volt and
> 133fsb when i'm not using the pc. I could probably passively cool this
> but never tried it,.. I use watercooling and my proc gets down to water
> temp witch is ambient.
> Hope this info helps you somehow,..

Interesting. Have you measured your idle power consumption at mains,
and if so what is it?
TIA, David

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

David Johnstone wrote:

> Interesting. Have you measured your idle power consumption at mains,
> and if so what is it?
> TIA, David

Do you know of a program that measures my power consumption?

--
"Suicide hotline,.. please hold,.."

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

"Moods" <Ahoy.you.s@lty.dogs> wrote in message news:420d3131$0$28993$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl...
> David Johnstone wrote:
>
> > Interesting. Have you measured your idle power consumption at mains,
> > and if so what is it?
> > TIA, David
>
> Do you know of a program that measures my power consumption?

:-)
Program no. I don't think there'd be any way to do that without extra
hardware. I plug a standard power meter (costs around EUR20 at a DIY
store) between computer and mains. These meters can also integrate over
time to show you e.g. daily consumption if you run a server. No other way
is really going to show you your total real power consumption including
losses in the PSU -.that's what goes on your electricity bill at the end of the
day.

David

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

Just set up my Athlon 64 Winchester socket 939 3200+. Have it overclocked to
2450 at first try, on only 1.5v.

Amazingly, I installed the cool'n'quiet driver and panel from amd and most
of the time it's running only at half-speed and the panel says 1.1v. But
that panel says 1.4v at full speed, and it's set for 1.5. Further, I didn't
get errors in prime95 and I think I would have if it was at 1.4 at 2450.
Anyhow, when cpu is below 50% it could be using less than 20w.

The voltage settings on my Gigabyte K8NS-939 board go way low. Good for
permanenly running real slow and cold. Some options are under CTRL + F1 --
it forgot to say that in the manual. It doesn't report system temperature,
and the windows utility reads a vcore a little higher than the setting. Nice
for the price.


--
Ed Light

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