by René Pawlitzek, rpawlitzek@hotmail.com

In my last post, I described how to build a Green PC with parts of a ten year old computer and a few new ones. I have been very happy with the result. The system performs to my expectations and it is clearly a very unique setup. Some people have asked me if the Intel Atom D525 is powerful enough to run today’s desktop applications. Running Windows XP on it, I have not yet encountered any situations where the system is unusable. However, in spring of 2012, I started to think about rebuilding my second ten year old system to see if I could possibly do even better. I bought that Intel Celeron (Northwood) 2GHz based system in October 2002 and it served me well over a decade. Its last configuration had 2 GB RAM and a 40GB hard disk. Like the other PC, this computer came with a beautiful MaxData case and a reliable and quiet 300W Delta power supply. A few years later, I installed a top-notch LG DVD burner. There was no question, that I would reuse the case, the power supply, the DVD drive, the keyboard, the mouse, and the monitor for this second Green PC project.

This time, I started with the evaluation of the CPU. I went straight to www.passmark.com to find the Intel CPU with the best price/performance ratio. As you can see from the chart below, the Intel Celeron G530 gives you the absolute best value for your dollars (or Swiss Francs). The G530 is a power efficient Sandy Bridge based CPU with 2 cores and 2.4 GHz clock. Intel has used its architecture successfully for a number of processors, including the i7, i5 and i3. The G530 processor is available in Switzerland for only CHF 49.00. An excellent deal for a microprocessor with such awesome single-thread performance. CPU Price Performance Chart from www.passmark.com

My next task was to find a socket 1155 motherboard. I looked again for an outstanding price/performance ratio. After studying and comparing dozens of boards, I purchased the AsRock H61M/U3S3 in the end. It is a stable 1155 board with good reviews and plenty of interfaces for a very decent price (CHF 76.00 here in Switzerland). The H61M/U3S3 has an 8-pin and a 24-pin power connector, but can also operate with older power supplies which have 4-pin and 20-pin power connectors. In addition, it features old (legacy) connectors (PS/2, Parallel and Serial port) and new connectors (USB 3.0, SATA-3). A monitor can be attached via HDMI, DVI or VGA. AsRock H61M/U3S3 motherboard

Unfortunately, the AsRock H61M/USS3 doesn’t have an IDE interface to connect the old LG DVD burner, but IDE-2-SATA adapters allow you to attach IDE devices to SATA. The internet is full of reviews of such adapters. Most of them kind of work. However, the Digitus DS-33150 seems to work best and it is also available in Switzerland for CHF 16.90. For that price, you can almost get a brand-new SATA DVD burner, but I decided to reuse most of my old PC parts including the DVD drive, so I went with the adapter and it works flawlessly. Digitus DS-33150 IDE-2-SATA adapter

Initially, I planned to buy a sold state disk (SSD). But prices for a decent 128GB SSD were still too high compared to regular disks when I did my evaluation. So I decided to wait for the prices to drop. In the meantime, I purchased another Western Digital 500GB Green disk. Compared with the older WD5000AADS used for my first Green PC Project, the WD5000AZRX features a SATA-3 interface, uses less power, is quieter and faster. I paid a mere CHF 59.00 for it.

The hardware assembly was painless thanks to the PC industry’s effort to standardize not only interfaces but also hardware dimensions. After removing the old motherboard and the old disk, it was a matter of minutes before the new hardware was installed. I also needed a Molex-2-SATA power adapter (CHF 9.30) to connect the new hard disk to the old ATX power supply. I was particularly impressed with how easy it was to install the CPU onto the motherboard. You open the socket, put the processor into socket, close the socket, and snap the CPU cooler onto it. Done! This can even be achieved by people with two left hands. AsRock H61M/U3S3 with Intel Celeron G530 and Western Digital WD5000AZRX in a MaxData PC case

My old Celeron system came preinstalled with Windows XP and it has worked extremely well for a whole decade, but its days are numbered and Microsoft won’t support it after 2013. Therefore, I made the decision to replace it with something more modern. I bought Windows 8 shortly after its release and put it on my aging Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop where it runs surprisingly well. Therefore, the previously installed Windows 7 could be installed on the new G530 system. It will be my main operation system for the next years to come.

As you can see from the Windows 7 Experience Index below, the system is no slug:

CPU	6.1
Memory	5.5
Video 2D	4.9
Video 3D	5.7
Disk	5.9

Definitely powerful enough, to run today’s PC applications in the so-called post PC era. The system is roughly 10 times faster than the old one (2278 vs. 232 CPU Mark), and roughly 3 times faster than the Intel Atom D525 based PC (2278 vs. 772 CPU Mark).

The system is quiet fast but how much power does it need? After all, it should be a Green PC, shouldn’t it? I could not wait to connect the power meter to find out much power it consumes. Here is the result: The system needs 36.3W when idle, beating the Intel Atom D525 by 2 Watts. Of course things change when you put demand on the CPU, because the Celeron G530 has a TDP of 65W, while the Atom D525 has a TDP of just 13W. As shown here, a G540/G530 based system will use roughly 70 watts under peak load. However, when browsing the web, writing an article or sending email, a computer idles most of the time. In this respect, my second Green PC project was even more successful than the previous one. The second Green PC uses 36.3 watts when idle.

By using some parts from my old PC and combining them with new parts, I was able again to build an up-to-date PC for only CHF 210.20. The following parts were reused:

• Philips 19” Monitor
• PS/2 Logitech Mouse and PS/2 Cherry keyboard
• Delta 300W Power Supply
• MaxData PC Case
• LG DVD burner
• Windows 7 operation system from the Dell Inspiron 1525
• 2GB DDR3 RAM from an upgrade of another PC

These parts had to be replaced:

• old motherboard with CPU and memory
• old hard disk
• Windows XP operation system

And the following components were purchased:

• Intel Celeron G530 CPU for CHF 49.00
• AsRock H61M/U3S3 motherboard for CHF 76.00
• Western Digital 500GB hard disk for CHF 59.00
• Digitus IDE-2-SATA adapter for CHF 16.90
• Delock Molex-2-SATA power adapter for CHF 9.30

Compared to the old PC, the new Green PC is 10 times faster, has 10 times more disk storage, uses less than half of the power, but reuses many components from the old system. It was again a lot of fun to evaluate, build and measure this unique computer, and it is even more fun to use it!