Low Power Home Computing

Does each new computer you buy need to consume more power than the last? Isn't it inevitable that computers and operating systems and software get more and more bloated and computers get so hot you can toast bread on them in the morning? Are power supplies going to be measured in the kW? What, for a home computer?

An 8 watt processor will do it all.

Let's face it, if you're like me, for home computing you just need something that doesn't get viruses, gets your email, maybe serves a printer for the house, runs a scanner, reads cards from the camera, also talks to your portable media devices. You also need an rss reader, a web station and a place to listen to music and watch youtube. This machine does all that beautifully and elegantly, and with little power. I don't have a power meter but I think this server represents a cut of about 50 watts from our 24/7 load.

A few years ago I started to become attracted to linux. One day my OS crashed and I couldn't find the windows XP cd. (I finally found the windows XP cd but now it's gathering dust on a shelf.) I first tried mandrake (now mandriva) and my friend HTP told me about ubuntu. I quickly found out that without antivirus running all the time, linux is like having a whole additional processor core! I soon discovered old computers that couldn't handle antivirus software breathed new life, they lived on when a light OS like xubuntu was installed on it.

My new low power computer is running xubuntu 8.10 with compiz which makes a very light and elegant desktop. I have compiz running four desktops on a cube that i flip laterally. In this way I can have tasks running on each cube face, kind of like Jefferson's revolving bookstand!

The benchmark for me is how quickly it loads firefox. Xubuntu is generally fast at that. Since this computer will be on all the time I'm already finding it runs lots and lots of processes for me and for the house. There is RAM to spare with a 2GB DDR2 and plenty of desktop space.

There are so many linux distributions to choose from you can choose just what you need and what is right for you and nothing more. In fact I've used some distributions for a single purpose and disposed of them.

Just recently my xeon workstation started to become demented. When its sound chip died, I decided it was time to pull the plug and start anew with something I've always wanted to do, replace the electric space heater with something low power. Heat was what did this thing in anyway. So I chose an intel D945GCLF2 motherboard running the intel atom 330 low power processor. The atom 330 is an 8 watt dual-core hyperthreading processor and it's doing exactly the job I wanted it to do. It's the fastest of the atom processors that are out there now, I wanted to make sure it could handle all the tasks i throw at it.

At the minimum I spent $100 on the motherboard and fixin's but I also bought a few bells and whistles for the case gentrification, another $60 spent on a floppy drive size card reader, a pci card with two usb 2.0 plugs on it, and another floppy drive size usb and audio port up front. I have usb devices coming out of this thing everywhere and it looks like medusa. You can't have too many usb plugs is what I think.

Inside there is a giant heatsink I cemented onto the northbridge that looks like a blue metal sowbug. The dirty secret of this motherboard is the northbridge. If you can wait to buy a low power motherboard, good idea. Wait until this northbridge is designed out of the motherboard. It consumes more power than the processor and it also comes from the factory strapped with a 39 cent fan that is persistent and gnatlike. It's not dentist drill loud but it's sure a whiner. Get some arctic alumina cement and a zalman northbridge heatsink and glue the heatsink on the northbridge. Then get rid of that fan. It still will consume more power than the CPU but at least it's quiet.

By the way, this thing is fanless except for the power supply. I'm going to replace that soon with a fanless one and then in a year or two replace the hard disks with an SSD. Imagine silent computing.

For the case I used an old compaq case that I painted with old paint I found lying around, and the power supply is plundered from a computer in the garage. I thoroughly enjoyed building a computer just how I like it myself "from scratch" and reusing materials whenever possible. This was more difficult than it needed to be because old parts always need adapters and deelybobs to fit new stuff. I ended up cementing the floppy drives in with epoxy because these compaq floppy rails are impossible to find. I found out salespeople crack up at fry's when you say you are looking for floppy parts.

The best feeling is knowing that I can do this again! There was some learning that had to happen on the way there but it's good for you.

There are some intriguing ready-made low power computers out there, among them the acer mini desktop. Making your own computer is great but not for everyone! It sure is rewarding to blog from a computer you built yourself though...