Re: recommended motherboards for build?
On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 10:08:01PM -0500, Petrus Validus wrote:
> I have been thinking of building a low-power Debian AMD64 desktop with a
> Core 2 Quad CPU (probably the Q6600). The purpose of this machine is
> nothing special, just the basic computing type thing (office suite,
> email, web surfing) without the power-hungry hardware.
Define low power.
If you mean low processing power, well the Q6600 has quite a bit.
If you mean low power consumption, well the Q6600 isn't a good choice.
It runs over 100W (I think it is spec'd at 105W). One of the Q9xxx
series would use quite a bit less power, although you do pay slightly
more for a Q9xxx with the same speed as a Q6600. The 45nm Q9xxx and
Q8xxx for that matter run a lower voltage than the old Q6600 (0.85V
lowest versus 1.1V lowest. Highest voltage is similar). They also
use a 1333MT/s bus rather than 1066MT/s. Some of the new ones have less
cache than the Q6600, some have more. Depends on the model.
> Stability as my primary concern and I have been looking at micro-ATX
> Intel boards since I intend on putting the board in an old blue and
> white Mac G3 case.
Are you making your own port cover plate to fit in the G3 case (it is
not a normal ATX plate after all)? How are you going to fit a proper
sized power supply in that case? Do you think it has enough cooling to
run something that power hungry?
The power supply in the G3 is NOT ATX compatible. It is close, but the
G3 has ground on pin 18, where ATX requires -5V, and 3.3V on pin 8,
which on ATX is power good signal. So the power supply must be changed
for sure, no matter how small a system you put in there.
> Suggestions?
Ehm, pick a better case.
> Any help is appreciated. :)
I run my Q6600 on an Asus P5K board, although I think a P5Q is the
current equivalant board (newer intel chipset). I don't do microatx,
but you can get microatx versions of those boards.
--
Len Sorensen
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