Atom vs Athlon vs Celeron

[krazynutz]

Hey everyone,

I've built an Atom-based home server which handles all my files and printing. I leave it on 24x7 and love the low power draw and the mini-ITX form factor.

I've installed Norton 360 on the server. Copying files from the server is as fast as it was before Norton. Copying files to the server, however, slows down 5x. I'm assuming this is because of the file scanning involved on incoming files and the little Atom just can't cut it.

Would a low-level Athlon or Celeron fair any better with file crunching while keeping wattage to a minimum? Possibly even more with under-volting?


Thanks!

 

[flyinfinni]

Power is gonna be higher on the AthlonII/Celeron CPUs than an Atom, but the AthlonII at least is a fantastic performer, especially for the price. You can get a triple or quad core Athlon II that will crank through the load much better for incredibly low prices these days ($100 or less!).

 

[Shadow703793]

^Agreed. An Athlon II X2/X3/X4 with CNQ enabled, should not make much of a difference in terms of energy use.

Copying files to the server, however, slows down 5x. I'm assuming this is because of the file scanning involved on incoming files and the little Atom just can't cut it.

Exactly!

 

[LePhuronn]

Or, dare I suggest, just dumping Norton 360 and installing better virus protection?

What's the name of the best free one people are recommending these days? Avira or something? I know Avast is good and personally I'm on AVG Free 9.

 

[flyinfinni]

lol- thats probably a good idea too LePhuronn. I know AVG is good, but not particularly light on resources. I know Avast is better, and I don't know anything about Avira. Avast would probably be the best one that I know of to replace and hopefully reduce your CPU slowness

 

[krazynutz]

Soooo.....

I can get an Athlon Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition + a Gigabyte GA-MA78LM-S2H Mobo for $100 total at Micro Center.

Should I jump on that?

That CPU is rated at 80W. That's a bit higher than an Atom D510 @ 15W.


As far as changing virus protection and firewalls, I'd like a firewall since all my files are on the server. Of all full-featured packages, Norton 360 actually uses the least amount of resources at any given time. That's why I have it installed. That, and I paid for a 3-license install and the server happens to be my 3rd compy.

 

[flyinfinni]

I would go for an Athlon II x2 since they are only 65W TDP and will be everything you need. I would imagine you can get one of them at either fry's or Microcenter for less than that PhenomII x2. Plenty of CPU while using less power

 

[MarkG]

You could also try underclocking the Athlon II to reduce power usage, it will still be substantially more powerful than the Atom even if you go down to 1.6GHz.

 

[Shadow703793]

^Agreed. Considering an old Sempron underclocked was MUCH better than a Atom :lol:

 

[krazynutz]

I would go for an Athlon II x2 since they are only 65W TDP and will be everything you need. I would imagine you can get one of them at either fry's or Microcenter for less than that PhenomII x2. Plenty of CPU while using less power

The Phenom proc came with a free Gigabyte motherboard = $100 which seems to be a better deal than any combo I can find with an Athlon II x2 + mobo.

I should be able to undervolt/underclock that pretty far too, right?

 

[Shadow703793]

^Yes. Is it a Phenom or a Phenom II?

 

[flyinfinni]

Its a phenom II x2. The only difference is its got more cache and will use a little more power, but underclocked it will probably be just fine.

 

[evang]

might as well try unlocking it if you have a mobo that can do so

 

[krazynutz]

it's a black edition. Aren't they already unlocked?

 

[evang]

the 2 disabled cores i mean. the p2 555 can sometimes be unlocked into a quad core if your motherboard supports ACC

 

[flyinfinni]

The problem with that in this particular situation is that the OP wants to minimize power usage and unlocking those extra 2 cores would dramatically increase the power consumption. Sure it would help the processing power, but even the x2 way underclocked will be a big step up from the Atom and will probably be more than enough for the application. Take a look at the difference in TDP between an x2 and an x4- 125W for the x4 and only 80W for the x2. With an x2 with 2 disabled and possibly defective cores, even if they are unlockable, they will probably be 'leaky' and require extra power/voltage to be stable and you'll end up really upping the power draw.

 

[r_manic]

Best answer selected by r_manic.

 

[loneninja]

Personally I would grab an Athlon II vs Phenom II for power consumption, that L3 cache really makes a power consumption difference under load. Than get ahold of K10stat, and manually set your p states while undervolting to reduce power consumption further.