How To: Build a Green(er) Computer

Despite TreeHugger's best efforts to spread the word about low-power computing options, many computers are still built without a second thought to energy efficiency, and, in the US, hazardous substances like lead and mercury (the EU's RoHS and WEEE directives have cut them back in Europe). The guys at Extreme Tech decided to take a shot at building their own green machine, taking care to address both energy efficiency and hazardous materials. They grabbed a green power supply suitable for expansion to a bigger system in the future, all lead-free components, and even found that in many cases, the greenest components were more powerful than many less green options, because they're newer and more efficient. The end result isn't the greenest, most efficient machine we've ever seen, but it's extremely flexible, making it useful from just about anyone from gamers to bloggers to casual users with a few modifications, and shows that every computer user can have a green(er) machine. The article also includes some handy, step-by-step instructions (with pictures) of how to do it yourself and keep it green, and trumpets that in just about every case, smaller is better. Altogether, it's a fair example that "green computing is all about small steps towards a better world. In the end, many small steps lead to a giant leap." ::Extreme Tech via ::Digg