Low Watt

[JordanRinke]

Anyone looked at low wattage systems? Part of my job is evaluating new hardware and making purchasing decisions based on the quotes we get. Lately we have started considering the environmental impact of the systems we buy (which interestingly enough usually means a better savings/roi over the life of the product) but anyways. I ave started looking at it for the house, for isntance I only use a laptop now since it uses so much less power. I need to build a gaming rig though, htis laptop pays CS:S fine but the 7800 in it probably won't do the next cycle of games so well. I notice it is common on gaming systems to go 800+ watts for the power supply and what not... I am thinking about trying to build the smallest, most energ effecient and still powerful gaming rig possible. Anyone looked at doing this? any thoughts? Graphics is really my only concern.

[boiler]

Guys like Cujo and Zester may be more informative, but the biggest stumbling block you're going to have is that modern gaming graphics cards require a minimum of 450W. I ran an 640MB 8800GTS with an E6600 Core 2 plus one hard drive with a 550W antec neopower PSU, and it ran great. Even some of the lower end 8000 series cards require quite a bit of power, but then those cards wouldn't be handling stuff much better than the 7800 you already have.

 

If you built a gaming system with an 8800 series card, I can't see you going less than 550W minimum to make sure you have enough juice for graphics-intense applications. Even then most people will probably recommend you go with more power than that.

 

Unfortunately, high-end gaming and low-wattage power supplies just don't go that well together. You CAN help make better use of the energy by getting a more efficient PSU - the Antec NeoPower series (and I'm sure a few other companies as well) are noticeably more efficient with power than cheaper varieties.

[JordanRinke]

Right, the 80PLUS certification is out now. I am pushing towards making 80% and better power supplies our standard at Wal-Mart. It is amazing, just by changing what we purchase a little bit, in our last quarterly purchase over the next 3 years we will save over 1,500,000 Kwh of energy and about 90,000 dollars in energy costs with that equipment.

[Cujo]

an 800w psu isn't always using 800w. it only uses what's necessary to power the computer. the bigger psus are usually more efficient as they're typically built with higher quality components because they need to supply a lot more power.

 

the biggest power hogs right now are the video cards. modern desktop cpus are basically the same as laptop cpus.

 

basically the best thing to do is just build a killer gaming rig and have it off when you're not gaming.

 

i built a second, really low power machine specifically for my torrent downloading so that i don't leave my main gaming rig on all the time.

[anonymo]

an 800w psu isn't always using 800w. it only uses what's necessary to power the computer. the bigger psus are usually more efficient as they're typically built with higher quality components because they need to supply a lot more power.

 

the biggest power hogs right now are the video cards. modern desktop cpus are basically the same as laptop cpus.

 

basically the best thing to do is just build a killer gaming rig and have it off when you're not gaming.

 

i built a second, really low power machine specifically for my torrent downloading so that i don't leave my main gaming rig on all the time.

Are cold starts not horrendously bad for your CPU, Memory, HDD and GPU as they used to be?

[JordanRinke]

the only thing thye could actually be bad for is the HDD, but the head parks now a days so it is not an issue. Since the components are primarily solid state and have active cooling there are no expansion issues. Back in the day it could have been a problem but only after thousands of starts. The way things are made now it is a non-issue. Most components that fail now are for the exact opposite reason, the heat buildup and stress from running all of the time.or from failed cooling since a fan is the most likely component of a system to go out.

[ZesteR]

an 800w psu isn't always using 800w. it only uses what's necessary to power the computer. the bigger psus are usually more efficient as they're typically built with higher quality components because they need to supply a lot more power.

 

the biggest power hogs right now are the video cards. modern desktop cpus are basically the same as laptop cpus.

 

basically the best thing to do is just build a killer gaming rig and have it off when you're not gaming.

Bah, everything I was going to say.

 

Def. look for an efficient power supply and again to just +1 what cujo and others say. The PSU is a power SUPPLY. It only produces what the current required draw/drain is.

 

If you have a 800 or 1000w PSU, if ur system only needs 600, the rest sits and waits. Hence overkill, but with us gamers upgrading all the time, it's nice to go overkill b/c down the road, it won't be overkill anymore.

 

The new cpus are fast, yes, they are hot (specially the quads), but the amount of voltage/power they use is less and less.

The new chips 60nm and 45nm require less voltage per cycle. The gap the electrons have to jump is less, which requires less "kick or oommff" to jump the gap between transistors.

 

again +1 to everything u guys are saying.

[Cujo]

again +1 to everything u guys are saying.

 

 

i appreciate the additional technical explanations.

[ZesteR]

No problem (if ur serious or sarcastic lol )

 

I +1 your comment to me also

[Cujo]

No problem (if ur serious or sarcastic lol )

 

I +1 your comment to me also

 

i was serious.

[ZesteR]

+1 to that, I also am serious

 

(no seriously, I am)