OT:Suggestions for low power small size builds?

[Mark Greenwood]

On Wednesday 01 Dec 2010 16:05:11 Brian Wootton wrote:
> On 01/12/10 04:10, kubuntu-users-request at lists.ubuntu.com wrote:
> > I put together a Atom 510/Mini FoxConn box for the wife and we both love the
> > small footprint, low power consumption and*quietness*
> >
> > I want something like that for me only gruntier for doing those long KDE trunk
> > builds ... Maybe this isn't possible ...

From my (albeit limited) experience, the hard disk speed has as much of a bearing on the time taken to do large software builds as the CPU speed does. Yes, an Atom would probably be slow, but an Atom with a decent SATA disk attached (ie not a laptop drive) would probably do quite well. My 2Ghz Core II Duo desktop with a really fast SATA drive builds things noticeably faster than my 2.2GHz Core i5 laptop (4 cores as opposed to 2) with its slower speed laptop SATA drive.

Mark

> >
> > Currently I have a AMD Dual Core 4200+ with 2GB Ram and it feels underpowered,
> > a Atom isn't going to cut it.
> >
> > Getting lost in all the various CPU/Mobo combos one can do, I like the look of
> > the Athlon II X2 235E - only 45W but all the Micro/Mini AM3 Mobo's seem to use
> > ATI chipsets and I'd really prefer NVidia.
> >
> > Any suggestions? Maybe I could get the Athlon II and  AM3 Mobo and add a
> > Nvidia Video Card
> >    
> Have a look at Asus, I know they do motherboards with 'on-board' nVidia
> graphics chipsets, I know they do a potent laptop with a long battery
> life. My DIY Asus motherboard is a 64bit AMD with on-board graphics/
> audio/ethernet by NVIDIA but what Asus do in the low power area I
> haven't looked at. Look at < http://usa.asus.com/>
> brian
> 
>