I'm looking at putting together my first build and have a few questions related to power consumption. The build I'm looking at is based on a Q6600 CPU, one HD4850 GPU and a P45 mobo (Asus P5Q Deluxe). I'd also like to experiment with overclocking it (nothing too extreme), more out of technical interest rather than need.

The system will be used for gaming and video editing but, probably like most systems, will spend much of its time in idle/email/web surfing mode. Can anyone offer any suggestions for reducing the power consumption of the system when it's lightly loaded, either at the OS (it will be Vista 64-bit which I have not used) or hardware level? I'm really not familiar with what my options are.

I've read that the upcoming i7/Nehalem chips will be turn off some cores when they are not used - maybe it's worth waiting for them.

Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

if you want to wait for nehalem, expect to pay 2x more than a wolfdale build

and when you say green build, i usually think nvidia or amd for some reason...hmmm

as for power consumption, consider a 45nm chip.... and a core2duo

For a system such as what you list, one of the biggest power savings would be a highly efficient PSU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703005

ASUS includes many nice power saving features that will reduce consumption on that board, both in the BIOS and in the OS.

As mentioned, a dual core like the E8500 will be more efficient for power.

This is the PSU that I had planned on using so I guess I'm in good company. Thanks for the response

OCing usual turns off the power saving features. I think some of the newer nVidia chipsets use OB graphics for the most part, and only fire up the graphics cards when needed.

I think AMD has more going for it in energy efficiency than Intel, and has some low energy quads.

if your stuck on Intel quads, get a Q9300 over a Q6600

the ATI HD4000 series are more efficient that the comperable nVidias, but the hybrid power thing from nVidia would more than make up for the difference.

you may want to think about 2 computers, maybe a laptop for everyday, and a desktop for gaming/ high performance.

My power saving works quite well while overclocked on ASUS P5Q boards.

Right now, my CPU is overclocked to 3.6Ghz. Not by software but hard set in the BIOS.

The voltage is 1.27
The CPU is running at 2.4Ghz, with a multiplier of 6.
This is with power saving features turned on, but set to favor performance over power saving.

When I switch to gaming or some other intensive app, the numbers will jump up seamlessly.

It's good to know that you can do this. Thanks.

The Q9300 does have better power numbers than the Q6600. Does it make sense to pay the $50 extra and move to the Q9450 to get the larger cache?

I think the Q9550 is the deal right now, actually.