I'm a little surprised by the idle power consumption, both EIST and underclocked/volted - my X2 5000 on a Gigabyte GA-MA74G-S2H (reviewed here) pulls 39W idle (1GHz@0.8V) and 74W (2.6GHz@1.05V), with an extra GB of RAM and a 3.5in HDD. Given the 45nm process and reported almost non-existent idle dra...

Shamgar - no worries :) Prices were going up like crazy around the time I bought my bits (MB went from $75>89 (what I paid)>110 in a couple of weeks) so I didn't want to risk waiting for MSY Tech to get a 4850e in stock only for all the prices to go up. I'm pretty sure the 4850e is a X2 4800+ (or wh...

Rothan - are those figures with Cool n Quiet enabled? I'm trying to install Ubuntu 8.10 and wondered how well CnQ worked, as there doesn't seem to be any CrystalCPUID equivalent for Linux.

CPU - I went for an X2 5000 and undervolted it like crazy, most likely more than the 4850e is. That'll save some cash - last time I checked PriceSpy.com.au, the cheapest 4850e was ~$95, the 5000+ is still $74. I'm happy with my 740G board, but a 780G board won't draw that much more. DVR-216 - I'm ve...

X2 5000 using 1GHz@0.8V, 2GHz@0.925V and 2.6GHz@1.05V, managed using CrystalCPUID Gigabyte GA-MA74G-S2H board 2x1GB 667 RAM 640GB WD6400AACS GP HDD DVR-216 DVD drive 4yr old FSP greenpower PSU 39W idle (woohoo!) 70W double Prime95+ATITool load I'm pretty pleased :) Glad I didn't bother paying extra ...

the 740G is another option, though I don't now about Firewire + eSATA (though the later you can buy PCI brackets for and hook up to internal headers).

Wouldn't personally bother with a 4850e, just get a cheaper X2 and undervolt it.

lm: I wish it were that easy :). I've already changed everything I can to fluorescents. Unfortunately my apartment has quite a lot of halogen light fixtures and there are no fluorescents for those :(. Perhaps you should consider swapping the fixtures? Cons of halogen lighting: - power hog - excess ...

if you don't need a lot of GPU grunt (for games or video) then why not go for the GA-MA74G-S2 (740G)? Cheaper, idles lower, Speedfan works (does on mine). I'd save some money and get a X2 5000+ and undervolt it - with a 3.5in drive, oldish PSU, 2GB RAM and DVD player I get slightly higher idle draw ...

I've had a Yate Loon DS12SL-12 in my Greenpower PSU for the last 3 years and it's still, as far as I can tell, absolutely fine. I think that any quality fan in a well ventilated case that's cleaned occasionally would be fine.

I've just finished upgrading my PC with one of these boards (the HDMI version, just because that's the only one available here) after reading this article, an X2 5000+ (Brisbane), 2x 1GB DDR2-667 RAM, DVR-216 DVD drive and a WD6400AACS drive. After playing around with CrystalCPUID (that article is s...

just finished setting up CrystalCPUID (similar to RMClock) on a Gigabyte GA-MA74G-S2H (reviewed by SPCR) with X2 5000+, WD6400AACS, 1 DVD drive, 2x1GB RAM and 400W Greenpower PSU. With idle at 1GHz and 0.8V it draws 39W, at 2.6GHz and 1.05V fully loaded (2x Prime95 and 1x ATI Tool) it pulls ~75W, so...

How about a 740G MB and X2 5000 (or less)? Low power (with one WD6400AACS and C'n'Q not enabled yet mine draws 55W idle + 100W load), cheap and more than enough grunt - unless your software development needs alot of CPU horse power? I'm not sure if the E7*** series have VT, I know the E5*** don't. T...

Just did my upgrade this weekend (740G MB+X2 5000+WD6400AACS) and I'm really struggling to hear the HDD. It's softmounted near the front of the case (but behind a foam filter) and even with my ear next to the intake I really struggle to hear any of the seeks - they're like a very small quiet mouse t...

cool! Great to see where reader's money is going and how thoroughly researched and carefully considered the purchases are.

I think all the upgrades are already flowing into the product reviews and they're better for it, thanks!

Unless you have any requirements specific to the 780G chipset (more graphics grunt for example), then a 740G mATX board will do you fine. It's essentially a die-shrunk 690G, which was a great mobo, and all three (690G, 780G and 740G) have been reviewed on here - the 740G has the lowest power consump...

I'm sure we'll see IGPs on the lower end Nehalem chipsets eventually, but, given Intel's record, they're likely to be the bare minimum neccessary.

thanks for the advice everyone - it's nice to have your sensible thoughts confirmed :) I was pretty astonished by the price difference - I thought the AMD option would be a bit cheaper, but not nearly half, and like you pointed out, that difference will pay for a 4670 (love the low idle on that card...

Hi everyone, been chewing this over for a while, so bear with my ramblings. Current system is: 1.6GHz sempron skt A on NF7-S 2x512MB RAM 7300GT graphics card 120GB 7200.7 IDE HDD 400W FSP Greenpower PSU NEC 3450 = anaemic poo, barely plays BF2142 at 800x600, takes days/weeks/months to encode a DVD :...

thanks Cirkus and dhanson - I'm a silence nut (hence why I'm here) and an electricity miser, so I think that, accidentally, I got the drive I actually wanted even if I didn't realise it at the time! The PC is a family all-purpose computer - it's on a large chunk of the day as my wife only gets 5-10 ...

thanks porkchop, I'm leaning towards keeping it - it'll be blazing fast compared to my 7200.7 (not hard) and I doubt I'd notice any difference between the AAKS and AACS in real life. Still, there's always that niggle of doubt...

careful when you're going for a WD6400 drive - there are actually 2 versions, AAKS and AACS (Green Power).

Hi everyone, finally got round to buying a new HDD to replace my ageing (and full) 120GB 7200.7. I thought I bought a WD6400AAKS Blue drive that everyone's been raving about, but it turns out to be a WD6400AA C S with a Green Power sticker. It doesn't appear up on WD's website and there's only conje...

thanks for the review - I was very interested in the EPU/ non-EPU comparison and it seems to bear out what every other review of EPU/DES boards finds ie. it makes no difference if you remove the undervolting/ underclocking side of things. Still useful for those who don't want to dabble with undervol...

aristide1 wrote:Neil wouldn't post non-sequiturs.

whatever mate, didn't realise that when someone puts "your thoughts" at the end of a post, only thoughts in confirmation of the post were allowed. I'm off.

"41. Set New Goals" AKA Have the government stop kissing corporate oil's butt. Does that work for you? That's your interpretation - could mean anything: 100% nuclear power by 2009, capture CO2 in canisters and fire it up into space by 2010, change the law to allow polygamy (though why you'd want to...

same here dhanson - the 640GB model in Oz is only ~30% more than the 320GB, is supposed to be a bit faster and you don't have the whole lottery deal with the smaller model. I'll be getting the 640GB for a comprehensive upgrade this weekend or next.

Hi Carl, You can rest assured that Guy Dauncey lives the way he should. If only the rest of us would follow his example. Back on topic: TEN SOLUTIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS 1. Grasp the Big Picture 2. Travel More Sustainably 3. If You Must Use a Car, Switch to the Most Fuel Efficient Model 4. Choose Energ...

have you seen the kind of containers that radioactive waste is stored in when not fired up into space? They're enormous. Sure. Have you seen the size of a Proton rocket? Or an Ariane 5, or Ares V for that matter? They are rather large and can lift quite a lot of mass. I sure we could design a conta...

Besides, dumping in space is already becoming the next dumping in sea - No-one said anything about dumping it in space. The proposed plan was to launch it into space and steer it in the direction of the sun, and leave it at that. I don't think sun's inhabitants would greatly object... sure, though ...

wind turbines, but alot of them do produce very low freq. noise that can be structurally damaging to houses. do you have any actual examples where this has happened, and turbine noise has been definitively identified as the culprit? hard to believe unless the freq. is a resonant frequency of the ho...