As good as the old machine I got from TAFE, the router is in need of an upgrade.

Now normally I need no reason to do this, but for the sake of convincing myself my reasons are as follows:

1) The current computer isn’t optimised for power efficiency (newer motherboards are surely more efficient)

2) The power supply seems to be making funny noises (could just need a dusting but meh)

3) It currently doesn’t natively support 1Gbps LAN (needs PCI addon card)

and finally:

4) It doesn’t have SATA, requiring the use of another PCI card to include the media backup drive in my setup (which is currently only working in one direction).

So here’s what I have in mind:

 

CPU:

AMD Intel
Cheapest:Sempron 140 2.8GhzSingle Core 45w x64 Cheapest:Celeron Socket 775 E3400 Dual-core 2.6Ghz 65w
$31 $47
Ideal:Athlon II X2 255 Dual-Core 3.10Ghz 65w Ideal: Core 2 Duo E6600 3.06Ghz Dual-Core 65w
$61 $67

 

Motherboard:

AMD Intel AMD Old Motherboard
ASUS M4A78LT-M-LE

Socket AM3+ Integrated GFX + DDR3 Ram + 1x 1Gbps LAN 

 ASUS P5G41T-M-LX Socket 775+Integrated GFX + DDR3 Ram + 1x 1Gbps LAN  Gigabyte GA-M56S-S3 Socket AM2 (supports AM3 @ 2000MT/s)+ DDR2 Ram + 1x 1Gbps LAN
$55 $59  $0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memory:

Kingston 2GB DDR3-1333

$17

 

Power Supply:

Vantec ION2 CAN-460C 460Watt

$45

Extra requirements:

Low power consumption

Integrated Graphics

Integrated Dual-Gigabit networking

Or a Free PCI port

 

Using Old motherboard:

Requirements:

  • ·         CPU (Supports AM3 at lowered bus speeds)
  • ·         RAM (DDR2 only)
  • ·         Power Supply
  • ·         Graphics card? (temporarily use 8800GTS I guess)

 

CPU: 

Sempron 140 $31

RAM:

Kingston 2GB Value $29

Power Supply:

Vantec (As above) $45

 

TOTAL Cost:

AMD Budget AMD Ideal Intel Budget Intel Ideal Using Old Mobo
$31 + $55 + $17 + $45 $61 + $55 + $17 + $45 $47+ $59 + $17 + $45 $67 + $59 + $17 + $45 $31 + $29 + $45
$148 $178 $164 $184 $105

All prices are taken from MSY and were all in stock at the time of writing.


I would personally like to make a new machine (less the case), my experience with ad-hoc new/old part swapping is not exactly stellar.

That said, I have just been reminded of another motherboard I have left over: the M2N-SLI Deluxe; But that might be overkill in retrospect… it was designed for high performance more than anything (though it would mean I only need a power supply and a CPU to get it going.

 

*sigh.*.. i’m gonna need to think about this..