SPCR

Hi,

If anyone cares, I have been playing around with some ivybridge CPU's and a couple of motherboards.

My minimalistic ivy bridge system draws 25.1W from the wall in idle with screen/gfx on.
Intel 3550
Asus P8H77-I Mini-ITX
2x2gb at 1.65V
Intel 520 SSD 120GB
PICO PSU

I didn't have time to play with underclocking, but the low idle watts for a pretty potent system is OK.

My 3770K system pulls 35W from the wall in idle with screen/gfx on.
Intel 3770K
Asus Gene V
32GB ram (4x8gb at 1.5)
Intel 520 SSD 240GB
Seasonic X460
Adding a AMD 7970 to the mix raised the idle powerdraw to 50.8W

Which versions of FanXpert do your motherboards have?

Thanks in advance.

kuzzia wrote:Which versions of FanXpert do your motherboards have?

The '77 boards ship with Fan Xpert2.

How are you liking the Asus mobo's? Is Fan Xpert2 as nice as it looks from afar?

Have you tried using Asus' undervolting utility?

CA_Steve wrote:The '77 boards ship with Fan Xpert2.

Not all of them. Some models, for example the P8H77-I come with Fan Xpert. Others including the P8Z77-V LE and P8Z77-V LX have Fan Xpert+. As far as I can see, Fan Xpert+ seems to have most of the features of Fan Xpert 2 but only works with 4-pin PWM fans. The Asus website will show which version of Fan Xpert each board supports, so if you have a particular model in mind it is worth checking.

I'll try the Asus Fan software for the miniITX board later. The ASUS software package is pretty awesome for the GeneV board. First time even I would consider installing software that comes with a motherboard. Asus is far ahead of everyone else when it comes to the control software.

I exchanged the Intel SSD for an old 2.5" drive with Windows7 and got the IDLE powerdraw down to 21.3W, so windows is way more efficient than ESXi.

Dvdmonster. If you have never tried the FanXpert (it can be found in ASUS AI Suite), then do it! It's very capable of controlling the rpm of fans according to the CPU temperature. And it's very easy to use too.

lodestar wrote:Not all of them. Some models, for example the P8H77-I come with Fan Xpert. Others including the P8Z77-V LE and P8Z77-V LX have Fan Xpert+. As far as I can see, Fan Xpert+ seems to have most of the features of Fan Xpert 2 but only works with 4-pin PWM fans. The Asus website will show which version of Fan Xpert each board supports, so if you have a particular model in mind it is worth checking.

Hmm, this directly contradicts what the Asus dude said in the Anandtech interview. What a shame.

He said that all boards "standard and up" will have the new software.

CA_Steve wrote: Hmm, this directly contradicts what the Asus dude said in the Anandtech interview. What a shame.

My point exactly.

Do you even need a fan if the power consumption is that low? These systems should work great with totally passive cases like the HD-Plex or others that use the case as a heat sink.

Have you tried using Asus' undervolting utility?

Any more info on this utility?

And this review found the Asus boards the worst in terms of energy efficiency. Any advice on the most energy efficient Mini-ITX H77 board?