Low power PC rebuild.

So I've had a craptastic PC for around 8 months now. Time for a rebuild. This is where you come in.

My current machine is some off brand unit that has a mini ITX board powered by an AMD E-300 APU. As you can tell, the performance is barely enough to get by with. I can barely run 720P video on it. So I'm in need of a rebuild.

Here's the plan as well as what I have. I have 2 OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD and a 2 port PCI E x1 RAID 0/1 card in the mail. I have 8GB of DDR3 SODIMM RAM that will fit into the board I'm thinking of using that came from an old laptop project (see the Asus Eee PC 1215N below). I plan to re-use my current case, PSU (300 watt), monitor (1600x900 resolution on VGA), HDD (500GB), and DVD drive. This is the board I want to use. I know it isn't the most powerful or current thing out there but should work for me and be enough muscle for what I do.

What are your suggestions or thoughts on this? Remember, I'm on a tight budget and the board I want is pushing it. I already spent $90 on the 2 SSD drives and RAID card. I'm hoping I can get some overclocking done to the CPU and GPU. I used to have an Asus Eee PC 1215N that I had the Atom CPU clocked to 2.3Ghz and the ION 2 GPU to 800 Mhz on and it ran perfectly for what I did with it. It ran at 1.8Ghz CPU and 675 Mhz GPU stock. Never got hot even with both CPU and GPU doing full burn for hours at a time. Gaming on netbook FTW.

Oh and my OS I have and will re-use is Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I'm not a fan of Windows 8 with the tight control over driver installation since I run several non signed drivers on my machines. Chinese hardware FTW.

If you have a better board/ CPU/ GPU suggestion that is mini ITX, takes DDR3 SODIMM, fits in low profile case if it has external PCI E cards, and doesn't cost over $150 total, do tell. I'm all ears.

EDIT: I have found this same board I'm after for under $150. So that is my new limit.

 

For $150 you can probably do better than that. You could get a cheap MiniITX board like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157367 and then a low-end Ivy Bridge processor like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116887 for about $150. You could get a machine for even less than that, but I wouldn't suggest it. I'm not sure if your memory would be compatible with those parts, you'd need to do some research into that. I haven't researched these parts thoroughly, so take my advice at your own risk. At any rate, a processor and motherboard like the ones I mentioned ought to perform significantly better than an Atom setup. Again, you might want to look at benchmarks to see how they compare.

btw, the CPU I mentioned has integrated graphics, so you wouldn't need a dedicated GPU (unless you wanted one).

 

While I'd get more power out of the CPU, the GPU side of things will leave some to be desired. The reason I wanted to go with the Atom setup is the discrete GPU. I know the Nvidia GT610 isn't very powerful but I'm sure it will be more than the integrated graphics of the Intel 1155 CPU. That and the board recommended uses full size DIMM memory which will add to the cost. The integrated graphics of the 1155 may be a bit better than the GT610 but I'm old school in that I like my discrete GPU. Not only that but the Nvidia CUDA support and parallel computing ability will help out in my video encoding, Minecraft rendering, and such. Not only that but total wattage use is a concern too since I have frequent power outages and have an endurance UPS system.

Thanks for the suggestion but that is a little bit out of my parameters. I REALLY want to try and go discrete on the GPU if all possible. Try and go Nvidia for above reasons. Perhaps I'm just old school and got spoiled by my old ION 2 since it was and still is the most powerful GPU I ever had. Not too sure about the Intel HD 4000 graphics or if the dual core Celeron has that in it. The ION 2 did really cut down on my encoding times for video as well as audio since Audacity seemed to be able to use the CUDA system.

 

HD2000 is better than the GT610

Dont buy an atom for the GPU, thats just crazy and silly.

Also, there are hardly ANY apps that use the GPU for encoding video, mostly because its not very good at it. There is a noticeable quality loss as the GPU is inaccurate at encoding. The latest nvidia (talking like titan with keplar) are the only ones to start to bring decent encoding.

 

This is also completely wrong. Windows 7 64 bit and Windows 8 64 bit both wont allow unsigned drivers - the system is EXACTLY THE SAME. You need to disable the signed driver check on both win7 and win8.

 

I must have somehow undone the signed driver checker then. How I did it I don't know...

One of the main reasons for going lower power parts again is the fact my electrical usage is limited. My UPS can handle only so many watts and I think going anything above a 50 watt CPU will break the limit. Hence the idea behind the Atom and GT610 I'm thinking on. Low power usage. Especially consider the power usage from the lines since the setup will be running 24/ 7. I want to thank you guys for helping me but I do believe that I will be going with the Atom/ Nvidia GT 610 like I originally planned. I do think my 2 SSD RAID setup on top of original HDD and such will max out my PSU. That is the other reason for going lower powered parts. My PSU is only rated for 220 watts max.

 

Why are you opening an topic asking for advise when you already have your mind set in stone? The Intel Atom platform is the worst thing you could buy and totally overpriced.
You complain that the AMD E-300 is too slow but I don't think you realised yet that the Atom 2550 isn't much faster at all, infact it's almost exactly the same speed as the AMD APU.

And about your wattage concern, even if you underclock a low power 1155 cpu to get lower power consumption it will be still several times faster than the Atom.

 

the cpu linked above is like 55w, power shouldnt be a concern at all.

 

A little update on final parts and prices for my repower build.

The machine I'm working on is an emachines model with AMD E-300 APU that has 2GB single channel RAM, 220 watt PSU, DVD drive, 500GB HDD, and 1600x900 VGA monitor.

I'll be keeping it all minus the motherboard, APU, and RAM.

New parts and total prices with shipping:

Motherboard: Foxconn H61S LGA1155 Intel H61 Chipset DDR3 SATA PCIE mini-ITX Motherboard $46.94.

CPU: Intel Pentium G2130 $106.71.

RAM: 4GB Kit (2 x 2GB) RAM PC3-10600U PC3-10600 DDR3-1333 240pin non-ECC Unbuffered $33.79.

RAID card: Syba SY-PEX40028 PCI Express 2-Port SATA II RAID Low Profile Controller Card $16.90.

SSD: 2x OCZ Vertex 2 60 GB,Internal 2.5" (SSD) Solid State Drive $70 for both.

Total cost: $274.34

Not bad considering I'll get to have RAIDed SSD, 2.5x (or more) power on CPU side, better graphics with Intel HD2000, and re-use most of my parts. And the best part is the SSDs are very lightly used so I should get long service life from them as my main drive assuming the RAID card can boot OS.

Thoughts on parts selection? I'd like to thank Bad_Ad84 for his help and suggestions on parts. Also la-li-lu-le-lo for original motherboard suggestion that I couldn't use and the CPU I did use.

EDIT: The board I bought seems to have been out of stock. So a little searching found me the same thing again for around $20 cheaper.

 

Seems like a good set up. Good call when finally listening to the advice on the GT 610...nvidia shouldn't even be allowed to sell that card. Anyway even if it had a bit more grunt than the HD2000 the amount of performance you'd lose from using the Atom would be horrendous.

Also with the set up you've chosen, if you did want to get a dedicated GPU there's nothing to stop you. On ebay in the UK right now you can pick up a low profile GT 640 for £40 or if your case is really small you could go down the eGPU route.

Lastly, I'm not sure you need to worry so much about power. You say you have a 220watt power supply. I have a full on ATX rig with a 260 GTX sitting inside it all running off a 450watt power supply and I know that it never really pulls above 300watt. If your UPS is only 50watts how does your 220watt run? Or am I an idiot when it comes to how electricity works?

 

The UPS is a 1000 KVA setup. Google that if you need more info. My current setup can run the AMD E-300 tower and monitor for about an hour on battery at up to 50% CPU usage. I know run time will be less with new setup but future plans include mega sized batteries for this UPS. This system as is now can run up to 600 watts at full power for 7 minutes or so the specs say. Interesting thing about it is that when I plugged it into the USB port the PC instantly saw it and now shows it like a laptop battery complete with % left gauge, AC or battery indicator, and calculated runtime left. No drivers or software needed from APC.

As for the GPU, thanks for idea. I don't know if I will be able to use it since I will have a cheap RAID 0/1 card for my 2 SSDs (in RAID 0 of course) in the PCIe slot. Maybe I'll find another board later with a slot for those laptop wifi cards since that is PCIe x1 and my RAID card is PCIe x1. Adapters exist to make that mobile format slot into full size. Then I'll have a full x16 slot for the GPU.

The PC is interesting in that the motherboard is technically mini itx but it is slightly longer and has 2 PCIe slots in it. (A x1 in standard location for mini itx and x16 above it on edge of board.) Standard mini itx boards will bolt right in. I'll just lose the second slot at the top.

 

Bro, will stick to this thread for a time being as I am also looking to buy my first itx pc.

 

I highly recommend getting a good sound card like this one it has a quad core sound processor taking stress off the main cpu and it adds a GB of memory to a system. the sound is really beefy too and makes the genesis sound amazing through emulation i could not believe the difference from on board sound until i upgraded too this it says 150$ but i got mine at best buy for 60$ could probably get it cheaper. http://us.store.creative.com/Creative-Sound-Blaster-Zx-PCIe-Sound/M/B009XDWUCQ.htm

 

First its full height
Second, there is no spare slot

 

What Bad_Ad84 said. The card is full height when my tower is low profile, tower uses mini itx form factor which has only 1 PCI E slot, and said slot will have a RAID card in it. If I really need better sound than the on-board supply, I'll use a USB 5.1 sound card I have.

EDIT: Forgot to say that I got my 2 SSDs in on Friday. Man did they ship fast.

 

I finally got all my junk in today. I went about setting up a temporary test bed for building the RAID, installing OS, etc. (My "test bed" is just the MOBO sitting on a chair ATM...) Problem struck right away.

My board fails to even turn on properly. It turns on, spins the CPU fan up for 1 second, then shuts off for 3 second before trying again. I know it turns off then back on since I have the front panel headers plugged in properly and get the PWR LED turning on and off when I hit the PWR button. I know it isn't the RAM or CPU because the problem is still there without the RAM installed. CPU is brand new, unopened and sealed when I got it, so chances of that failing are slim to none. When I finally do get it to stay turned on, I get nothing. Nothing at all, no keyboard, no monitor signal, nothing whatsoever.

Do Foxconn boards have a high rate of failure since they are cheapo budget things? My model is known as the H61S V2.0 Evidence is pointing towards a faulty board right now...

I want to know before I contact the seller and report this issue since I have yet to leave feedback on it.

If it turns out to be bad, I'll see about sending it back, getting refunded, and waiting to get a better board that has a few other features I could use when I get more money. Something like the mPCI E X1 for Wifi cards that I can use my RAID card on to leave the X16 slot open for discrete GPU down the road. Maybe even get the better stuff that has built in RAID controller.

Any ideas? I think board is bad since the rear panel sockets seem a bit loose. Not wobbly loose but weak material loose...

 

Is the 12v plug in? That's a normal issue for this problem you're having.

 

Everything is plugged in properly. 24 pin ATX, 4 pin aux. 12V, all of it. I even swapped my PSU out thinking that was the issue but it still does this with all 3 I tried. I doubt all 3 of my PSUs I tried are bad especially since I can make it stay powered up finally. Perhaps my board hasn't been BIOS flashed to take the current generation LGA 1155 CPU models? I know Foxconn released a BIOS update for them somewhat recently. If that's the issue, I'm stuck then since you have to boot into OS to update BIOS on these boards...

Thinking I'll just return it and wait to get a better board that has more features on it. Screw this cheap Chinese piece-o-shit. No offense to any China based members here...

 

Before i got free Quadro 6000 i ran a system with slightly OC'ed Phenom II x4 955 and eight 3Tb HDDs with 460W PSU. It never reached anything above 370W even at startup.

 

quality of a psu can vary greatly even if they're 460w rated they may only be able to handly 70% of that. most good quality should be fine.

i always go overkill on my psu's but i've never built a low power low noise rig for myself.

also check the motherboard for any initial settings that need to be set eg cmos jumpers. some boards will behave like this if there is a jumper that needs to be unjumped or jumped for first boot.

reseating the cpu and resetting the cmos may also help.

but failing everything yeah return it and go for a better model/brand/features. because.. why not.