[rescue] U20 motherboard upgrade ?

[nate at portents.com]

> What is minimum power requirement for an i7 system? I would think at
> least 650 watts... The i7 you mentioned uses more power than an
> Opteron (I have to believe), and max for U20  is 4 Gig RAM, you want a
> box capable of 4x as much...

While there is some debate about how TDP (Thermal Design Power) should be
measured and some differences in how it is measured and reported by AMD
and Intel, in general both AMD and Intel CPUs have not exceeded 130W TDP
on the top end for years, 95W in the mainstream segment, and 65W for entry
level desktop and energy efficient servers.

What this means is that while the i7 in socket 1366 debuted at 130W TDP,
the most recent i7 parts for socket 1156 are now 95W parts, while only
slightly slower clocks.  So it's actually possible to have an older, once
high-end Core 2 Quad CPU from Intel be completely trounced by a newer,
faster Core i7 that draws less power.  And to top it off, Intel and AMD
have made giant strides in reducing idle power usage, so your average
power draw would also be lower.

If anything, the single greatest determinant in desktop applications for
what capacity and capability power supply you should have in a
desktop/workstation configuration is the video card, which can draw
upwards of 300W per card and can easily dissipate the most heat in any
system.

- Nate