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Low power/Economical server CPU

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kaltag

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2002
Location
Boise Idaho
The old Atom 330 server has performed admirably for several years now but it's load is starting to exceed it's capability a bit. My main goal is to use a dual core, low wattage, CPU and keep it as close as I can to the atom wattage ( I know I'll never get that low, just wanna see how low I can get.) I plan on undervolting and maybe some underclocking. I am trying to choose between an AMD or Intel ITX system.

I was looking at these for the AMD platform:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500045
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103933

And this for the Intel:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500044
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116348

The price difference is negligible but I'm not sure about performance or undervolting/underclocking capability. I'm curious what the community's opinion is. Thank you.
 
I've just started getting into this stuff, and accordingly, I just picked up this. I really haven't played with it enough yet to give you an honest opinion on its track record, but it is, at least, a dual core.
 
The Core2Duo's are (or can be) extremely efficient - I think that would be a pretty good option. You might get one in the classifieds for a lot cheaper than you could find one new. There's a couple good options in there right now, in fact. You might even consider going to a quad if you can downlock and undervolt it. Four cores at 2.0GHz would serve you a lot better than two at 2.5GHz.

The LGA775 board you picked out seems like it sucks, though. Make sure you get something with voltage adjustment also. I couldn't tell if the Zotac one you linked to allows it or not...
 
I think a quad would be extreme overkill right now. The average load right now rarely exceeds 10%. It's just on the rare occasion when I'm doing streaming transcoding of MP3s or HD content that it starts to hiccup. I have found it's difficult to find a board that specifically mentions if it can UNDERvolt. They almost all mention upward adjustment but not below stock. Both my current boards for example only allow upward adjustments.

EDIT: I have been looking at the new Atoms and that foxconn board looks nice and is similar to the msi N330 I have now, but, I need 4 SATA ports and I'm not sure the 1.8Ghz would be enough to handle the live HD transcoding. I also like the idea of hardware virtualization which both the AMD and Intel platforms offer. I have an E7300 from my old rig I was planning to sell but it could be re-purposed.
 
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I should have asked - is this an HTPC? Is it running Windows? If it is, you might just be able to use an AMD Fusion platform. Performance is a bit above the Atom, and the integrated GPU is build for HTPC-like things.
 
I should have asked - is this an HTPC? Is it running Windows? If it is, you might just be able to use an AMD Fusion platform. Performance is a bit above the Atom, and the integrated GPU is build for HTPC-like things.

It is not an HTPC and it runs Linux.
 
Server in continuous service since February, 2009:

Athlon 4850e (45w)/ MSI K9A2 (790x chipset)/4GB kingston RAM/CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX /Raptor 150GB OS drive/1TB RAID 1 storage array on promise controller/ Windows Server 2008 64-bit.

The machine works as a domain controller, SQL server and file server. It runs SQL synchronization routines, FTP synch utilities, acts as a weather station data server and does file synchronization with network machines and backup drives. The system, like the rest of the home/office, is powered 100% by solar energy. Performance has always been excellent.

If I were building a machine today, I'd opt for an Athon 270u. Hard to beat in terms of thermal power design at 25 Watts for a 2Ghz dual-core 2MB cache Athlon.
 
I'm not sure...if media playback isn't a priority, I wouldn't upgrade from an Atom to a Fusion for raw CPU power. Seems like a pretty minor improvement for the inconvenience and cost of upgrading. I'd go for at least a Core2 type CPU. The Athlon II 270u hafa linked to looks pretty sweet. I'll have to keep AMD in mind for things like this.
 
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