Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, mac_h8r1, Nelliesboo
flip-mode wrote:Will a NAS allow me to serve a printer and do some torrenting?Get a NAS. Buffalo Terrastation or something similar. Look at reviews on http://www.smallnetbuilder.com
JustAnEngineer wrote:That looks promising. I priced out a MSI Wind with Ram, ODD & HDD and was right at $300. I think if I went the route of entirely from scratch PC, I'd be closer to the $400 range, right?How much processing power did you want?
Mini-ITX case with one 5¼" and two 3½" drive bays
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811147131
AMD 780G mini-ITX motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813153124
45W low-power dual-core 64-bit processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rchInDesc=
You might need a CPU cooler designed for a 1U server application to fit in this case.
This is many times more capable than Atom. It could double as an HTPC.
JustAnEngineer wrote:Graphics aren't a factor. Anything onboard graphics and sound will be sufficient.Newegg's combo deal with the motherboard and processor could save another $20 or $25:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCo ... =10&page=1
Depending on how critical it is that it be small, a low-profile micro-ATX desktop case would open up less expensive alternatives. If you don't want the excellent graphics performance of AMD's 780G chipset, then you could also look at an inexpensive Intel G31 option.
poindexter6 wrote:Ah, I thought all you needed was a file server.flip-mode wrote:Will a NAS allow me to serve a printer and do some torrenting?Get a NAS. Buffalo Terrastation or something similar. Look at reviews on http://www.smallnetbuilder.com
eric93se wrote:I agree with Eric's whole post, but especially these points. Single core should use less power too. Some undervolting should definitely be considered too. My Athlon X2 undervolts very nicely.I think even the older 7150 onboard graphics will be good enough and probably use less power than the 780G. Also a single core cpu is only $30 and plenty powerful enough for what you need: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103189
poindexter6 wrote:Do you have an old discrete graphics card laying around? This might be a silly idea, but you could get a motherboard without integrated graphics and set up the system with the graphics card installed. Once it's running well and you stick the box in the corner of your guest room, you could remove the card and connect to it only remotely.Anything onboard graphics and sound will be sufficient.
wibeasley wrote:I do have an old AGP(?) graphics card in my 9 year old dell now. That is an idea...call me silly but...a remote PC doesn't even need a graphics card? Like...at all?poindexter6 wrote:Do you have an old discrete graphics card laying around? This might be a silly idea, but you could get a motherboard without integrated graphics and set up the system with the graphics card installed. Once it's running well and you stick the box in the corner of your guest room, you could remove the card and connect to it only remotely.Anything onboard graphics and sound will be sufficient.
Does anyone know how much power an integrated graphics chip consumes when no monitor is attached? 5-10 watts?
poindexter6 wrote:The comptuer would need it initially when OS is installed and the remote desktop settings are configured. But I agree with you that it won't need it during normal operations.That is an idea...call me silly but...a remote PC doesn't even need a graphics card? Like...at all?
JustAnEngineer wrote:But I really like the form factor and price of the case / bare bones setup.Atom is a huge step backward in technology. For less money, you can buy a 21st-century processor with a modern chipset.
wibeasley wrote:It won't have a monitor. I'm going to connect it to VGA initially for install but after that it's going to be headless.Does your monitor accept a vga cable? The product website says, "MSI reminds you: The VGA port can not be converted into DVI or HDMI through any adapter."