Last week I finally built my first custom PC. It’s very energy efficient, quiet and it can be used as a 24/7 server or as a general purpose PC.
The specs are:
Processor : Intel G620 Dual core Pentium processor Mainboard : Intel Desktop Board DZ68DB Memory : 2 * 4GB PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333) (No Name) Power supply : Be quiet! Straight Power E9 400W Hard-disk : Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AZDX, 500GB Graphics : Intel HD Graphics (integrated into the G620 processor) Case : Recycled an old computer case. DVD-writer : None, I use an external USB drive if needed.
- The total cost of this setup is about 350 EUR.
- Idle power usage is 23 Watt.
- Maximum measured power is 53 Watt. This is without stressing the graphics core which will probably add an extra 7 Watt if its used to its full capacity.
Hardware.
When I selected the system components I had the following main requirements:
- It must be able to use the system to develop software for GNU/Linux.
- I wanted to use the system as an internet connected server that runs 24/7.
To isolate my development work from the server-tasks, I want the server-tasks to run inside a virtual machine. The server-tasks are simple (personal web-server, email server, etc.) and do not need a very fast CPU (I am currently using ARM hardware for these tasks)
Because the machine is always on, its important that the system uses as little energy as possible. A one Watt device that runs for a year costs about 2 EUR in the Netherlands. Normal PC’s like my old system easily consume 90 Watt or more when idle, which make them very expensive servers.
Both main usages of the system only occasionally stress the system so low energy consumption for the idle state is a main concern.
Here are some remarks on the components I selected.
Processor.
I selected an Intel G620 processor because its performance is more than enough for my simple tasks. I t has an nice integrated graphics core and low power consumption. With a price of only 54 EUR it’s cheap too.
The specs mention a TDP of 65 Watt. My whole system never uses more than 60 Watt so this is a bit pessimistic. I think a TDP of 35 Watt like the special energy efficient G620T version is more realistic. When compared with the G620T the G620 only uses one or two Watt more.
Mainboard.
Finding the right mainboard was a bit tricky. Power consumption varies quit a bit between different products. Even when idle the difference in power consumption can be over 10 Watt! A very nice comparison of 21 mainboards can be found here. From this comparison you can see that the Intel DZ68DB mainboard I selected does very well.
Power supply.
Here I had two requirements. High efficiency and low noise. These qualities are both present in the selected Be quiet! Straight Power E9 400W. This power supply has an 80Plus gold certification, which guaranties an efficiency of 90% or more. For cooling an 135mm SilentWings fan is used resulting in an extremely low noise level of under 15 dB(A) at full load. With a price of about 70 EUR this power supply is twice the price of a standard power supply. When I look at the specs and build quality I find this very good value for money.
Memory.
Not much to say. I bought 8GB just to be able to compile very large programs and run the VM’s
Harddisk.
I bought an energy efficient Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AZDX, 500GB. This HD is fast and almost silent.
Graphics.
The integrated graphics core of the G620 processor is more than capable for any graphics task other than gaming. Video decoding is pretty good. I even managed to play the “killa sample” with only a small distortion in the first two seconds of the clip.
Software.
At the moment i’m running the testing version (Wheezy) of Debian GNU/Linux on the system. Quite a nice experience, everything worked out of the box and no proprietary drivers needed to be installed.
I only needed to make some small adjustments to the kernel settings in order to lower the power consumption. It turns out that the 3.x kernels have support for the power saving features of the integrated graphics core of the G620 processor, but these features are disabled by default. To turn the features on you have to edit the grub boot configuration as follows:
Edit:
/etc/default/grub
Find the line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
Change it to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1 i915.lvds_downclock=1"
Save this configuration and activate the settings with the command:
update-grub2
After restarting the system consumes 7 Watt less power…
3 comments
Matthew Platte
April 22, 2012 at 21:56 (UTC 2) Link to this comment
Well, thanks for the recipe! This is the first time I’ve purchased all new items to build a computer. In an earlier time I worked at a place that recycled electronics – boy, that was quite an education. Anyhow, I ordered the parts based on your list above, assembled them into a cardboard box case(!), and installed LinuxMint. I’ve been reading good things about Cinnamon….
It will be a staging server for the next couple of weeks then I’ll be replacing my 2004-era server in the basement.
Sorting out what bits work with each other is a tedious and daunting task for me so I really appreciate the advice. Thanks again.
MASS
November 1, 2012 at 08:57 (UTC 2) Link to this comment
Why dont u use an external 90Watt PSU instead. Most gold certified 400Watt would only be good att a range between around 150-300 Watt usage. If u use below 100Watt in your case it can go low as 75%. Price tag is more expensive and you have another fan making noise.
robvanderhoeven
November 1, 2012 at 10:33 (UTC 2) Link to this comment
I have looked at pico PSU’s but have my doubts about them. Most people think small = efficient. This is not always the case as these measurements from silentpcreview.com show:
picoPSU from Mini-box, 80W brick
They measured an efficiency of 79.4% at 21.5 Watt.
After i wrote the article i came across a very detailed article about the E9 400W power supply that i use in my system. In this article an efficiency of 82.6% was measured at 20W output. The noise they measured was only 14.3 dB(A) which is barely noticible (i cannot detect it, the only noise from my system comes from the hard-disk but this is *very* low). If you are interested, here is a link to the article (in German):
Be Quiet E9 400W power supply measurements
The internal power supply i use has some big advantages when compared to picoPSU’s:
- No brick outside the computer case.
- At least as efficient, but probably more efficient.
- Plenty of power for upgrades like graphic cards
- Less expensive (if you want the same quality)
- The Be Quiet is very well built, comes with a 5 year warranty!