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From: alsnow on 17 Nov 2006 16:14

I want to make a low-power (energy efficient) pc. The motherboard I've
already got is socket 478. What's the lowest power chip I can put in
there? And how low power is it.

Also, I'm told the 478 celeron m doesn't fit in a desktop socket 478,
only laptop? the pin arrangement is different, I'm told... is that
true?

thanks

From: Paul on 17 Nov 2006 17:14
alsnow(a)gmail.com wrote:
> I want to make a low-power (energy efficient) pc. The motherboard I've
> already got is socket 478. What's the lowest power chip I can put in
> there? And how low power is it.
>
> Also, I'm told the 478 celeron m doesn't fit in a desktop socket 478,
> only laptop? the pin arrangement is different, I'm told... is that
> true?
>
> thanks
>

CT-479
http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=467&l1=3&l2=54&l3=0

There are various web sites with info on CT-479
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=62366

Intel has info on power consumption on the links here:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ProcFam=942&sSpec=&OrdCode=

The power consumption isn't particularly low, but neither is the
performance. And the power management features may not all be
functioning with adapters like that. A motherboard with a mobile
chipset would make it all work.

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=2#p1630

These DFI boards take Celeron M and use mobile chipsets.

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=29#p1642

Or you can get a board and processor like this bundle, with a 14W processor.
It doesn't get much cheaper than this.

PC CHIPS M863G (V7.1C) AMD Geode NX Processor 1750 SiS 741GX Micro ATX $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813185076

Geode NX 1750 = 14W at 1.4GHz
http://deviceforge.com/news/NS5503728450.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=33149

There is another complete solution here. Slow as molasses (in terms
of core clock) but only $55 for a complete solution. (If I had a choice,
I'd probably take the NX 1750.)

PC CHIPS M789CG(V3.0A) VIA C3 Samual 2 2000+(800MHz/133) VIA CLE266 Flex ATX Motherboard/CPU Set
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813185043

Maybe that uses the 13W processor ?
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/specs.jsp

There is all sorts of interesting stuff, hiding under
rocks out there.

Finding benchmarks for all those solutions will take a
bit of work.

Paul
From: kony on 17 Nov 2006 18:46
On 17 Nov 2006 13:14:46 -0800, alsnow(a)gmail.com wrote:

>
>I want to make a low-power (energy efficient) pc. The motherboard I've
>already got is socket 478. What's the lowest power chip I can put in
>there? And how low power is it.


How low power does it need be?

What will you be doing with it?
Why build on a platform known to have lower efficiency when
the board can't be worth much?

I'd imagine you could be a Pentium 4 down to around 25W if
you underclocked it, but it might depend on whether your
board has voltage reduction and/or FSB reduction options.

I'd sooner go with the Geode board combo Paul linked, not
the C3 option unless ultra-low power is the only priority
and performance really doesn't matter at all, as it's
sluggish even running WinXP GUI.


>
>Also, I'm told the 478 celeron m doesn't fit in a desktop socket 478,
>only laptop? the pin arrangement is different, I'm told... is that
>true?

Right, it's a mPGA that is smaller. A mobile Celeron
wouldn't necessarily be a bad choice depending on your
needs, but with a different board.

If you can settle for upwards of 35W, you can pick among
most platforms and just underclock the CPU. Does it even
need to be a newer platform? There's plenty of old Pentium
3 systems out in the wild that produce under 25W even at
stock speed, under 15W underclocked with the Coppermines or
Tualatins but for something like a fileserver there'd be the
issues of lack of SATA support and going back far enough,
possible limitations in hard drive size supported by the
BIOS though you could always add a drive controller card if
utmost performance isn't an issue.
From: alsnow on 17 Nov 2006 19:03


Paul wrote:
> alsnow(a)gmail.com wrote:
> > I want to make a low-power (energy efficient) pc. The motherboard I've
> > already got is socket 478. What's the lowest power chip I can put in
> > there? And how low power is it.
> >
> > Also, I'm told the 478 celeron m doesn't fit in a desktop socket 478,
> > only laptop? the pin arrangement is different, I'm told... is that
> > true?
> >
> > thanks
> >
>
> CT-479
> http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=467&l1=3&l2=54&l3=0
>
> There are various web sites with info on CT-479
> http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=62366
>
> Intel has info on power consumption on the links here:
> http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ProcFam=942&sSpec=&OrdCode=
>
> The power consumption isn't particularly low, but neither is the
> performance. And the power management features may not all be
> functioning with adapters like that. A motherboard with a mobile
> chipset would make it all work.
>
> http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=2#p1630
>
> These DFI boards take Celeron M and use mobile chipsets.
>
> http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=29#p1642
>
> Or you can get a board and processor like this bundle, with a 14W processor.
> It doesn't get much cheaper than this.
>
> PC CHIPS M863G (V7.1C) AMD Geode NX Processor 1750 SiS 741GX Micro ATX $70
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813185076
>
> Geode NX 1750 = 14W at 1.4GHz
> http://deviceforge.com/news/NS5503728450.html
>
> http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=33149
>
> There is another complete solution here. Slow as molasses (in terms
> of core clock) but only $55 for a complete solution. (If I had a choice,
> I'd probably take the NX 1750.)
>
> PC CHIPS M789CG(V3.0A) VIA C3 Samual 2 2000+(800MHz/133) VIA CLE266 Flex ATX Motherboard/CPU Set
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813185043
>
> Maybe that uses the 13W processor ?
> http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/specs.jsp
>
> There is all sorts of interesting stuff, hiding under
> rocks out there.
>
> Finding benchmarks for all those solutions will take a
> bit of work.
>
> Paul

Excellent response thank you Paul! I've been down most of those roads
actually. I very nearly bought the PC CHIPS M789CG from newegg, but
there are some problems with it I read in the reviews, and I figured
since I already have a spare microatx board I'd look for a low power
478 chip. Also it doesn't have SATA support...

I thought the CT-479 only runs on asus boards, from what I read. Still
a good suggestion, since I didn't say my board isn't asus.

There's also this shuttle:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856101480

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