I rebuilt the media centre recently, as the AMD was only a temporary stand in. It was using far too much power compared to the old mobile CPU.
The new i3 is perfect for this. Enough CPU grunt to ditch the 3rd party video card power hog, everything on board. I’m an energy saving nut, so this is the lowest power system I could put together.
A low power media centre PC.
Specification
- CPU – i3 530 2.93GHz
- MB – Gigabyte Motherboard GA-H55-USB3
- RAM – 2 x 2GB
- HDD – 1.5 TB WD Green
- DVD – ASUS DVD Multi
- Case – Zalman HD160 Case
- PS – Antec Neo Eco 450W 80+
- Remote – Microsoft IR Remote
- Logitech DiNovo Mini Bluetooth Keyboard
- Windows 7
Config
- Video – HDMI
- Audio – SPDIF Optical
- Windows 7
Power = 70W avg
Has some minor Audio / Video glitches, seems to be driver related
CPU Fan noisy – too high an RPM. Coolermaster helped, but speed still too high. Now running CPU fan from Case Fan socket on MB.
Media PC Power Consumption History
- ASUS MB w/ Moblin 1.6GHz Mobile on desktop CPU, Video Card – 95w
- ASUS MB w/ AMD 5050e 2.6 GHz CPU, Video Card – 120w
- Gigabyte + i3 530 and Antec Truepower 2.0 – 85W
- Gigabyte + i3 530 and Antec Neo Eco – 70W
Dropping from 120w to 70w will save me about $100 / year in electricity costs.