I discovered STH thanks to project Mini Micro, but Project Mini Micro is not for me!
As I live in Europe, used PC prices are high, and in a low wage area of Europe money is scarce.
So, I have to go down a little bit more to look into something that I really can get, not something to drool about.
My primary use is compiling software, experimenting with server software, and controlling measure instruments. I want low noise, small size and good performance at a low cost. So, those are unreal objectives.
Starting with the wonderful list of machines from Patrick (many, MANY thanks) one can go back in time to the HP G1 800 Elitedesk machines (Haswell).
From those in small sizes, one can get the Mini, or the USDT:
https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04123137.pdf
These two use an external power adapter, while the SFF and the Tower are both bigger and have an internal power supply.
The two smaller ones take a max of 16 Gbytes RAM while the others support 32 Gbytes of RAM.
My choice was the USDT, as it has a external PSU, a bigger heatsink than the mini, supports 65 W processors. and has a mSATA slot, besides the 2,5" drive.
As the Minis ares smaller, they also command an higher price on ebay (Europe). I paid around 150 euros for a HP Elitedesk 800 G1 USDT, I5-4570S processor, 4 GByte Ram, 500 Gb HD (Seagate SSHD - cached HD), with Windows 10 Pro, and no keyboard or mouse. Some guys sell them cheaper but without power adapter.
Can it be improved? Yes, I managed to upgrade the BIOS, and after that I replaced the processor by Xeon E3-1265L v3. Yes, it has a lower clock speed, but also a low TDP of 35 W, and better cache than the i5. And it runs ok. The processor was expensive (90 euros used) but the i5 was reused upgrading another computer.
In the USA, I could get much more by the same price, but here I think that the compromise was good.
Going a bit up in performance and money, my question is about the "Broadwell" CPUs...
In theory C226 chipset machines can be upgraded to Broadwell CPUs.
LGA 1150 - Wikipedia
The chipset can found in machines like HP Z230, Lenovo E32, TS140, P300, and Dell T1700 or T20.
But, I only find reports saying "NO" on the Internet.
Broadwell low end Xeons (E3-12xx-v4) have a low price, but I cannot find any computers where to use them.
Any Ideas?
As I live in Europe, used PC prices are high, and in a low wage area of Europe money is scarce.
So, I have to go down a little bit more to look into something that I really can get, not something to drool about.
My primary use is compiling software, experimenting with server software, and controlling measure instruments. I want low noise, small size and good performance at a low cost. So, those are unreal objectives.
Starting with the wonderful list of machines from Patrick (many, MANY thanks) one can go back in time to the HP G1 800 Elitedesk machines (Haswell).
From those in small sizes, one can get the Mini, or the USDT:
https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04123137.pdf
These two use an external power adapter, while the SFF and the Tower are both bigger and have an internal power supply.
The two smaller ones take a max of 16 Gbytes RAM while the others support 32 Gbytes of RAM.
My choice was the USDT, as it has a external PSU, a bigger heatsink than the mini, supports 65 W processors. and has a mSATA slot, besides the 2,5" drive.
As the Minis ares smaller, they also command an higher price on ebay (Europe). I paid around 150 euros for a HP Elitedesk 800 G1 USDT, I5-4570S processor, 4 GByte Ram, 500 Gb HD (Seagate SSHD - cached HD), with Windows 10 Pro, and no keyboard or mouse. Some guys sell them cheaper but without power adapter.
Can it be improved? Yes, I managed to upgrade the BIOS, and after that I replaced the processor by Xeon E3-1265L v3. Yes, it has a lower clock speed, but also a low TDP of 35 W, and better cache than the i5. And it runs ok. The processor was expensive (90 euros used) but the i5 was reused upgrading another computer.
In the USA, I could get much more by the same price, but here I think that the compromise was good.
Going a bit up in performance and money, my question is about the "Broadwell" CPUs...
In theory C226 chipset machines can be upgraded to Broadwell CPUs.
LGA 1150 - Wikipedia
The chipset can found in machines like HP Z230, Lenovo E32, TS140, P300, and Dell T1700 or T20.
But, I only find reports saying "NO" on the Internet.
Broadwell low end Xeons (E3-12xx-v4) have a low price, but I cannot find any computers where to use them.
Any Ideas?