Anybody ever build a green pc machine?

Just curious. I know this would be a topic better served on a pc forum but it seems like they're more concerned with overclocking. As I plan and build my machine within the near future, I want to make an effort to make it as power saving as possible (without sacrificing power). I know both the AMD X2 processors and Intel Core 2 Duo are both relatively green at a stated power consumption of 65W or less. I most likely will get a Core 2 Duo but don't plan on overclocking it as I figure in stock config, it still will be pretty powerful and overclockign it will up the power ante. But what about other devices, say the power supply and video card? I want to get a video card that will be suitable for at least modest gaming but was wondering if in amongst the offerings from Nvidia and ATI if any of them were noticeably less power hungry then others.

Just wondering if anybody investigated and built a green machine and where did they get their research from. As mentioned, it seems like overclocking is a far more appealing option to most but maybe some of them should plug their pc into a killowatt meter and perhaps some may sing a different tune.

Try looking around for desktop systems that have the same power management as laptops--although you may have to wait for the next generation...

My brother-in-law is working on the next generation of processor power supply chips for desktop system processors and he said that they will pretty much have all of the same function as laptop systems to save power.

-Bill

I built my own a few years ago by using a low power processor (VIA). The processor only draws 10 watts.

I think your best bet is to get a laptop. In order to get good battery life, the designers try to optimize every aspect of power consumption. I use a laptop now instead of my old, custom built tower PC.

My custom built PC: 100 watts when processing, 75 watts on standby.

My laptop: 25 watts when processing, only 1 watt on standby.

I don't think you can do any better than that.

Not all laptops are created equal though. If you are really interested in the lowest power consumption, get a Kill-A-Watt meter and measure the laptops at the store on both full power and standby. The same advice goes for all appliances, TVs, etc. Putting the meter on them is the best way to be sure of what you are getting.

If you are really set on building a desktop, do a google search under terms like "quiet" or "silent" PC. You will find a few sites dedicated to truly quiet PCs. Usually that means focusing on low power processors and accessories.

Here is a link about using the VIA Eden processor (7.5 watts) to build a low power system:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article609-page1.html

Used to be you could buy some laptop chips that would fit in standard motherboards and also another trick used was to underclock chips although I am unsure if the current dual core versions allow that. I also think you can go into power management and setup your desktop to operate as a laptop which in some cases throttles back cpu idle (sleep) speed more than normal. It all comes down to sacrificing some performance for extra power saving in most cases I think as standard power saving modes only go so far.

I have seen an article about power supply efficiency somewhere.... some power supplies are supposedly only perhaps 70-80% efficient while there are some out there in the 90% range but there is probably a cost factor involved for higher quality design/components in that regard too. I had a sysstem I put my hard drive in power saving sleep mode but that didn't work out well as about 10% of the time it wouldn't wake up and I had to turn off my system and restart it.

Most of the time when I'm just web surfing I use an old laptop. The smaller screen is OK. It doesn't have a battery in it and I've removed (it just slides out) the CD. It's set for maximum battery savings. I should get the Kill-A-Watt and check it out.

I only fire up the newer, more powerful laptop when I have real work to do.

If your limited to Windows then you really limit your options because you will need more hardware to get the same amount of work done as a decent OS and you'll never get a reliable standby.
Once you get rid of that limitation you can do a lot more.
My laptop for example is an old business model, 1.3GHz and its power supply is rated 65W max and that is with external devices factored in, it runs less than 1/3 of that normally. If your going to get a laptop stick with the business models rather than the home models and you will get better power savings.
My "desktop" is a VIA Mini-ITX board with a 500MHZ fanless CPU, 128M ram and boots from a 128M CF card. Its powered by a small 12v in power supply and averages 1A at 12v which makes it run at around 12Watts.

i am gonna try out those microsoft support and help answers.

" don't switch on your computer in the first place."

No, for me it will be a desktop not a laptop (I already have a very nice LCD monitor) and yes it will be a Windows XP machine. Thanks for the suggestions so far.

If you are concerned with power saving then go for a laptop. Most are built for low power usage as opposed to desktop pc's. I used a killawatt meter on my wifes Core Duo 1.6ghz laptop 1gig ram 100gig hd w/15.4" widescreen monitor and during web browsing using wireless networking as well as the screen on its bright (plugged in) setting it was only utilizing between 20-25 watts. When it is booting windows it would sometimes jump to 35-40 watts but regardless. Its extremely efficient.

I think my 20" desktop monitor alone is supposed to use around 35 watts.

Underclocking is definitely something to consider as well. If you can drop the voltage enough and add a huge enough heatsink you might just be able to run the system passively(without a fan). You might want to check out www.silentpcreview.com as well as their forums.

Well, now a days you can't generalize on laptops and say they are built for power savings, too many laptops are built to be desktop replacements and use as much power so you will still need to research before buying.
There are lots of low power options, a search turned up this blog http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/how_to_build_a_3.php