I'm trying to update my home hardware and bumped into SPCR. It's really, really, really a good reference for newbies like me. I'm not missing (almost) any new review. Ones I'm not interested, too, you cant' tell...
Seriously, I really appreciate the scientific approach.A little of me.
My current system is old (say, 2002), P4 Northwood 2.0GHz based. It's used 24x7 for web services, daily for office-like task and as (poor) htpc.
I'm looking for an upgrade both on the HTPC side and in power consumption (and silence!).
Roughly my road map will be to build a silent/efficient htpc; should it be enough efficient, it will become also my 24x7 server, otherwise I'll study a cheaper/efficient system for that.
At first I thought the two requirements (good htpc and power efficiency) were mutually exclusive, but I understand that "contenting" myself with a 35W idle consumption, will likely make that feasible.
The new system will be picoPSU-fueled, 4850E based (never heard of?
), on a M2A-VM HDMI motherboard (I still need TV-output, so 780G ruled out 
). I'm just waiting for a couple of piece from my shop (mostly the CPU 
) and then I'll fire it, hoping it won't burn... err, I'll turn it on and start measuring. See you on the forums for updates and advice.
