• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Less Power Consuming

C

Chura

n00b
Joined
Jun 24, 2006
Messages
61
Hi,

I have now PC station that 99% of the time is used for NZB downloads (and extracting them)
I was looking to decrease my month electricity bill and i've found that the QX9650 inside is bad for me :) 145W average daily power consuming.

I will shut this PC down, and i want efficient 24/7 downloading system that unpack RARs.

One option i taughts about is Intel D2700 system (Foxconn D270s for example)
But then I saw that i3 2120 will consume on idle same power as the Atom.

What do you think ?
for downloading porpuse, should i go with the i3 ?
I'm looking for the minimal power consuming that will fit my needs.

Thanks,
Chura
 
What are power rates where you are? You may not save that much money at all, presuming that is 145W measured from the wall.

Around here where I get billed $0.06/kWhr in the winter and $0.11/kWhr in the summer...that machine costs $10/month running it 24/7 if it pulls 145W from the wall.
 
I'd take a a look at Pentium G630(approx. 64$) or even the Celeron 530(approx. 47$) processors for this type of use. They would have a power usage very similar to the i3, have well more than enough power to handle downloading and extracting binaries, and cost half the price of the i3.

FWIW, I run Sickbeard w/ NZB on my HTPC with an E-350 in it. I can be downloading a file, extracting another, and playing back 1080p video all at the same time with out a single hiccup. For lowest power consumption, an Atom or E-350 would be your best bet. Going with a Sandy Bridge Pentium or Celeron would give you some extra power incase you wanted to do more than just download in the future (set up a firewall, for example).
 
Have you tried to underclock the processor? Drop the voltage to it as well? I wouldn't be surprised if you could get it down to 60-80W after everything is said and done.

Also, do you have a discrete video card attached to this PC? Onboard video? Is this machine headless? Can it be made so?

I have a similar setup, only it's running a few VMs as well. It's pulling about 60W from the wall, but it's headless. At one point I had a discrete video card installed on the machine, but pulled it out to save a few more watts since I can do what I need through RDP/CLI.
 
Last edited:
Thanks ppl.

I have Radeon 4850 on it, i forgot about it so i guess its a big consumer also.
Is the E-450 is better then the N2800 or D2700 ?
I have a friend at intel who can get me the Intel Mobos for good price.

Here i pay 0.10$ for kw/h year wide.
meaning i pay 15$ a month for that 24/7
i investment of 150$ will return itself in a year.
i have 70$ for the n2800 or D2700, i just wonder if i shouldnt go for 3770s for example ? (i can have the cpu for 90$)
 
Last edited:
mesasone said:
I'd take a a look at Pentium G630(approx. 64$) or even the Celeron 530(approx. 47$) processors for this type of use. They would have a power usage very similar to the i3, have well more than enough power to handle downloading and extracting binaries, and cost half the price of the i3.

FWIW, I run Sickbeard w/ NZB on my HTPC with an E-350 in it. I can be downloading a file, extracting another, and playing back 1080p video all at the same time with out a single hiccup. For lowest power consumption, an Atom or E-350 would be your best bet. Going with a Sandy Bridge Pentium or Celeron would give you some extra power incase you wanted to do more than just download in the future (set up a firewall, for example).
Click to expand...
Thats the only thing i need it for
Downloading sabNZBd(DL+UNRAR)/Sickbeard/CouchPotato. (not playback, for this i have monster 2600K i7 :) )

So if i understand you well, you are satisfied with your setup and response time ?
 
What will you do for video output? The integrated video of the i series or even some AMD's might save power overall compared to a low power CPU but discreet video.

You can go headless, as Windows Remote Desktop is fantastic, but you can't power off a video card if its installed. So it will always draw power.
 
it have a embeded GPU, isnt it ? (in total power of 10W)
i wont need display other then first installion, i'll use remote only.
 
Chura said:
Hi,

I have now PC station that 99% of the time is used for NZB downloads (and extracting them)
I was looking to decrease my month electricity bill and i've found that the QX9650 inside is bad for me :) 145W average daily power consuming.

I will shut this PC down, and i want efficient 24/7 downloading system that unpack RARs.

One option i taughts about is Intel D2700 system (Foxconn D270s for example)
But then I saw that i3 2120 will consume on idle same power as the Atom.

What do you think ?
for downloading porpuse, should i go with the i3 ?
I'm looking for the minimal power consuming that will fit my needs.

Thanks,
Chura
Click to expand...

I'll assume that's the wattage of the processor in which case the daily usage would be 3000+ Watthours a day, the ivy bridge cpus is suppose to have half that and would be a good upgrade
 
Ok, i choosen the Atom, i'll give it a shot.

One last thing :)
i may choose from Intel BoxD2700MUD to BoxDN2800MT
which one should i go with ?

i see that the 2800 have DC input, is it advantage ?
 
Chura said:
Thats the only thing i need it for
Downloading sabNZBd(DL+UNRAR)/Sickbeard/CouchPotato. (not playback, for this i have monster 2600K i7 :) )

So if i understand you well, you are satisfied with your setup and response time ?
Click to expand...

Yes. Just looking through my log in sabnzd, most episodes unpack in 10 to 20 seconds for your standard 1.5GB 720p TV show. Either the Atom or AMD Zacate set up would work well.
 
Chura said:
Ok, i choosen the Atom, i'll give it a shot.

One last thing :)
i may choose from Intel BoxD2700MUD to BoxDN2800MT
which one should i go with ?

i see that the 2800 have DC input, is it advantage ?
Click to expand...

Unless you have a DC power supply you intend to run it off of, no, it isn't an advantage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top