Thin and Silent Core 2 Duo PowerHouse under 100Watts!
Monday, November 13, 2006 at 14:18 Seeing computer getting smaller and smaller always fascinated me. Until recently, it was a hard task to build a small computer and most of the time, it was expensive and you had a limited choice of component (being mostly notebook parts).
When the Apple Mac Mini came out, I was so impress, I wanted one! Finally, someone understood the need for something small, aesthetic, and relatively powerful (limited by notebook component again!).
But here is a real project I've been working on (but not entirely finished). The interesting thing is that except for the optical drive, you'll be able to use regular PC parts. That's right, get a top notch computer in a small format using only powerful component. One little detail: don't expect to install a Geforce 8800 in there, it just won't fit (physically and powerlly)
It all started with the SilverStone LC19, a small enclosure in their Lascala series:
SilverStone Enclosure Lascala LC19S
Being only 2.7-inch tall (15-inch width / 13.7-inch depth) this enclosure is not like your regular ATX mammoth. The included power supply is external and is designed to deliver 120W at maximum.
Another case I found interesting was the SilverStone LC12 but my excitement dropped pretty quickly because this one is a MiniITX and the power supply is only 60W (120W optional but nowhere to be found?). Someday... maybe
Where was I? Oh right, getting the component and test them...
Here is the shopping list:
I checked at NCIX and it should be around 1400$ USD
Of course, you could build the same but using less expensive parts... for example, using a E6300 (1,86Ghz) CPU, 1GB of RAM and a 320GB Seagate drive it would be around 1000$ USD. So this ain't an inexpensive computer and in fact that is exactly what I wanted: no compromise.
All of this is possible because of the Intel Core 2 Duo low power requirement. Don't even think about using a Pentium D or another power-hungry CPU... it not a good idea.
So I got the parts and my main concern was the juice available from the 120W power supply. I took a look at the specification of every parts but getting the exact number was hard (especially with the motherboard and the RAM). Here is a summary of my finding:
mATX motherboard - Somewhere between 20W to 30W
Intel Core 2 Duo architecture - 65W MAX.
DDR2 Memory kit of 2 stick - around 15W
Pioneer Slim Optical Drive - 6W MAX. (burning)
SATA Hard Drive - 10W MAX.
Other components (fans) - maybe 10W MAX.
Adding theses numbers I get 136W in the worse case scenario. I was getting nervous to power up my newly assembled marvel...
Rough Setup
mmm what the heck, we'll see. I bet the 120W is able to deliver a bit more than this and afterall, the computer is not going to consume the whole 136W unless I try something like Burn In Test.
Ok! for the drama, picture my finger nervously hesitating near the power button on the front of the case... got it? (reminder: post a picture later for this)
The computer boots up (YES!) and I have access to the BIOS so I quickly take a look at the voltage monitor looking for symptoms of instability... none. Is the power supply so warm I won't be able to hold it in my hands? NO! So far so good. I activated the SpeedStep option in the BIOS, made a few little changes and saved. I decided to launch my Unattended installation of Windows XP SP2 and watched for sign of trouble. Everything when fine. I installed the ASUS probe utility to monitor the CPU and the motherboard. The Core 2 Duo was running at 45-Degres and the motherboard around 42-Degres. I was quite satisfied with the result so I decided to try Burn In Test but only the CPU test at first. I was hitting 65-Degres for the CPU running the test and the motherboard was also heating up, getting close to 60-Degres... not too good if I want to keep running this computer a few years. This is where I added the 50mm fans to improve the ventilation of the case and get this hot air out of there.
Custom Ventilation
There is a few thing I want to test during the following weeks. First, I haven't decided yet what is the destiny of this computer. Here are my options:
1- My office computer, there is room for one more raptor so I could do a RAID0 or RAID1 setup. Perfect for Vista
2- VMware server (on a Ubuntu host) for development. 2x Raptors in RAID1 or 4x 2.5-inches 7200RPM hard drive for a RAID5 with 3 drives and 1 drive for Hot Spare. I have to check for a mATX motherboard with a ICH8-R onboard...
Another detail is the PCI riser included with the case along with 3 different back plates to allow one PCI card to be installed (depending on the PCI slot you choose). This is perfect for a PCI TV tuner card turning this unit in a Media Center.
Instead of using the PCI riser, I ordered a SuperMicro CSU-RR1U-E16 PCI-Express riser just to see if this would fit. I'm not planning to install a high-end graphic card. Instead, I would use this port to install an ADD2 card. This would give me a dual-desktop configuration. I knew that the Intel Video chipset (i915G, i945G,) had support for dual display but I didn't know how to make it work until I found about theses extensions card.
I have the pegasus card in stock but I'm still waiting for PCI-E riser...
To be Continued...
Reader Comments (4)
Grate project you got going on!
I was thinking of putting together allmost the same system (Lc19 and E6300) but was wondering if the powersupply was powerfull enough. Good thing you tested it for me ;) I am going to use this setup as a HTPC using the upcomming Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD mainboard with built in Radeon RX1250 graphic for decoding of HD video (MPEG-2, H.264, and VC-1)
Keep up the good work!