Coolest processor?

[daaron415]

I was wondering what the coolest processor of the latest generation was? By latest, I'm including just the x2, and the Core 2 Duo. I did some scrounging around on the internet, and I see that some people consider the x5200 to be the coolest processor at the moment. I was wondering if you guys knew otherwise, or agree, seeing as how cooler CPUs=slower fans=less noise.


Thanks!

[aaa]

AMD BE-2350 probably. Intel doesn't make any low-power desktop cpus. Are you talking default or undervolted (because you can undervolt Intels)? What speed do you want? Slower always equals less power...

[daaron415]

Well yea I typically undervolt my CPU, because I'm running what amounts to mostly an office system. I play music, I type up documents, I might play some Warcraft3, and that's about it. I used to use an AMD 64 3700 that was undervolted to about 1200Mhz, and I dropped voltage down a bit, in order to bring temps down, as ambient temperature where I live is in the 90F area.


Anyways, I'm looking for a proc that runs cool. That's my largest (and only) concern. So... In your opinion, the coolest processor crowns goes to....???


Thanks!

Wow, just did a google on the CPU you mentioned...Excellent news. I admit that I haven't thought to check up on newer CPUs, and only investigated the mainstream line of 64 X2s and C2Ds.

[ddrueding1]

If that is all you are doing, have a look at the VIA CPUs. They are much slower, but in another league with regard to power/heat. They even offer fanless ones up to about 1.5Ghz.

[cloneman]

What about ULV notebook Core 2 duos? Surely cost (and difficulty getting a desktop board for it) are factors... but wouldn't it be the ultimate right now, for someone looking for current gen-ish performance with very low power? As far as I know the VIA CPUs really have no place on gaming/multimedia... can they even compete with Pentium M's yet, on raw performance?

[Aris]

you can get a via C7 up around 1.5ghz that only draws like 20w at load.

You can get some of intels mobile C2D's (merom) on desktop boards that will be around 50w at load.

I think AMD has a new low voltage CPU out that has a TDP of around 40w (not exactly sure on this one).


The biggest bang for the buck when it comes to power per watt right now seems to be MotD C2D meroms. Load power consumption for just the board/cpu with onboard video is around 50w. You can put a pretty fast (7600gs) video card in it to game with and still keep your total load power consumption under 100w.

[Erssa]

I was wondering what the coolest processor of the latest generation was? By latest, I'm including just the x2, and the Core 2 Duo. I did some scrounging around on the internet, and I see that some people consider the x5200 to be the coolest processor at the moment.

Forget the VIAs. Cheapest x2 probably serves your usage best.

I was wondering if you guys knew otherwise, or agree, seeing as how cooler CPUs=slower fans=less noise.

I disagree with your logic. You can have slow fan(s) with "hot" CPUs as well, which results in the same noise. Only difference will be a hotter temperature reading, which has no downsides to it.

[jaganath]

Pentium E2140/E2160 are pretty cool. I also disagree VIA is in "another league", a Brisbane X2 3600 undervolted down to 1.15G/0.84V will use similar power but with exponentially better performance.

[daaron415]

I was wondering if you guys knew otherwise, or agree, seeing as how cooler CPUs=slower fans=less noise.

I disagree with your logic. You can have slow fan(s) with "hot" CPUs as well, which results in the same noise. Only difference will be a hotter temperature reading, which has no downsides to it.[/quote]

The logic that I meant by that was that a cooler running CPU would require less air blowing to maintain a healthy temperature. I.E. a normal x2 runs hotter, and in order to maintain it at a baseline temperature, requires a faster fan than the BE series, to hit the same baseline temperature.

Anyways, thanks to the board's advice, I've got it pegged down to the BE2350, or a Pentium2160. The difference in power consumption is near negligible, so the only factor left is in motherboards. I was wondering what people thought of the motherboards for each of the CPU's, and why you'd prefer that specific one.


Thanks!

[Erssa]

The logic that I meant by that was that a cooler running CPU would require less air blowing to maintain a healthy temperature. I.E. a normal x2 runs hotter, and in order to maintain it at a baseline temperature, requires a faster fan than the BE series, to hit the same baseline temperature.

It only means, that you have to adjust your brain so you can get used to higher baseline.

Anyways, thanks to the board's advice, I've got it pegged down to the BE2350, or a Pentium2160. The difference in power consumption is near negligible, so the only factor left is in motherboards. I was wondering what people thought of the motherboards for each of the CPU's, and why you'd prefer that specific one.

Biostar TA690G for BE2350. Biostar usually has good bios options and integrated graphics should have enough power in it to run wc3.

[daaron415]

The logic that I meant by that was that a cooler running CPU would require less air blowing to maintain a healthy temperature. I.E. a normal x2 runs hotter, and in order to maintain it at a baseline temperature, requires a faster fan than the BE series, to hit the same baseline temperature.

It only means, that you have to adjust your brain so you can get used to higher baseline.

I'm going to emphasize "a healthy temperature". Your higher baseline may or may not have an affect on the longevity of the CPU, and that's something I don't really want to affect. Sorry if I can't wrap my head around your concept.

[Erssa]

I'm going to emphasize "a healthy temperature". Your higher baseline may or may not have an affect on the longevity of the CPU, and that's something I don't really want to affect. Sorry if I can't wrap my head around your concept.

You have just arbitrarily picked a wrong "healthy temperature", just like most people here. I'm just trying to steer people away from the temperature oriented thinking into silence oriented, so I make comments like these pretty often.

I think your approach is a good one, undervolting and overcooling is fine, as it guarantees you can run a fan at the absolute minimum.

[michal_t]

Check this out

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/11/ ... index.html

[daaron415]

I'm going to emphasize "a healthy temperature". Your higher baseline may or may not have an affect on the longevity of the CPU, and that's something I don't really want to affect. Sorry if I can't wrap my head around your concept.

You have just arbitrarily picked a wrong "healthy temperature", just like most people here. I'm just trying to steer people away from the temperature oriented thinking into silence oriented, so I make comments like these pretty often.

I think your approach is a good one, undervolting and overcooling is fine, as it guarantees you can run a fan at the absolute minimum.

Yea sorry if I seemed to be hardheaded about this one particular aspect of the CPU, as I should have also stated that I'm trying to create the lowest possible heat configuration because I'm trying to see if I can get my setup to be nearly fanless, with a passive cooler on the heatsink, a fanless PSU, and maybe 2 120mms to pull air through my setup. That's why I was so deadset on finding the coolest running CPU, rather than going for a slightly stronger processor that would also require more power/put out more heat.


Thanks a lot for the advice though, nearly everything is decided, because of the constructive criticism and opinions here.

[smilingcrow]

Yea sorry if I seemed to be hardheaded about this one particular aspect of the CPU, as I should have also stated that I'm trying to create the lowest possible heat configuration because I'm trying to see if I can get my setup to be nearly fanless, with a passive cooler on the heatsink, a fanless PSU, and maybe 2 120mms to pull air through my setup. That's why I was so deadset on finding the coolest running CPU , rather than going for a slightly stronger processor that would also require more power/put out more heat.

I would differentiate here between CPU temperature and CPU heat output. I suggest that the best CPU for desktop usage for a low power and low noise setup is a Core 2 Duo Mobile. It consumes very little power, under-volts nicely and has a thermal throttling threshold of 100C so it doesn’t take much effort to keep it below that.

An under-volted Core 2 Duo mobile 2 GHz running at load at 95C will produce much less heat than an under-volted Athlon X2 2GHz running at load at 40C. The CPU temperature tells you how hot the core is not how much heat it produces.