One more for the nerds...

[tyggerjai]

Underclocking. I have, simultaneously, a need desire for a low power always-on server, and a spare old gaming machine. The gaming machine is currently overclocked to something silly, but it's still not as grunty as my more modern workstation from China. If I underclock it, i.e. reduce the core voltage, will power consumption go down? I think it has built-in graphics, so I can take out the old card, and modernise the drives.

Or should I just drop ~$200 on a modern Atom integrated board and 4Gb RAM?

Comments

[http://mexico.purplecow.org/openid/andre]

Reducing voltage will decrease stability far more than power consumption.

[thorfinn]

What do you actually want this low power always-on server to do? There are some quite good NAS type units out there. Drobo are actually really great from the perspective of "just stick in any SATA disks you like", but they're not cheap.The Drobo NAS units also let you run "apps" on them too. There's better price point now, provided you're willing to do a bit more worrying yourself about specific disk models and things like that. :-) (ETA: I'm also not that sure about the power usage of NAS units, it may not be that good.)

This also isn't a cheap solution (but has side benefits such as being the most awesome home router device ever), but you could even just get the Fritz!box 7390 and plug a disk into the back of it...

Of course, if you're talking about running your own services or something, that's a different story...

[ideological_cuddle]

Eh, the only thing the Fritz units have over much-cheaper RouterBoard boxes is the built-in ADSL hardware. Otherwise, for a hobbyist type the RB is a much better deal.

I'm pretty happy with the Atom box I set up this week. I wouldn't expect an older gaming box, even underclocked, to chew anywhere as little juice as the modern low-power systems.

[thorfinn]

DECT handset pairing? Easy to use yet still powerful web interface? Multiple VoIP account support, including T.38 fax codec? Act as a SIP server itself so you can attach local devices to it and call "locally" as well as outgoing and incoming? Be an answering machine for both fax and voice via landline and VoIP? VPN support? Multiple antenna split wifi so g and n don't affect each other? QoS that actually works, instead of being a piece of crap like most DSL modems? Only a single device, instead of having to have multiple devices? USB disk and printer sharing? I don't think I've even covered the whole feature set there.

I'm sure you *can* get everything the Fritz!box does by buying several devices and managing them separately - whether the RouterBoard or others. The point is that having everything in the one box with an actually nice to use but still powerful web config and status interface is, well, easier, lower power and more convenient.

Of course, if you *prefer* to have separate devices, there's nothing wrong with that either, let me make that clear. :-)