Cool, efficient basic mb and cpu when I don't need power?
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 8:56 pm
Hi all:
I'm new to this silent PC game, and have spent many hours reading and searching this site today. Many thanks to all the contributors - it is a very coherent site, with exceptionally civil forums.
One thing that I have noticed is that much of the emphasis is on power supplies/cooling, cpu cooling, case fans and cases.
But as I start out, the thing that I've been wondering most about is which motherboard and CPU to buy? The reason this is on my mind is that I am very aware that I DON'T NEED 95% of the power (and subsequent heat, and subsequent cooling requirements, and subsequent noise battles) in current model CPU's!
I am currently running a 5-6 year old system (probably a 266 MHz PII - I cannot even remember) with 512M ram and a cable-modem to the Internet. I use my computer about 8 hours a day, but all I do with it is open multiple web browser windows, and a little email. Sometimes the browser windows are running Java applets, but it never gets more complicated than that. I never run games or complex graphics, and I haven't even opened my CDROM drive in over 2 years
My current flea-powered system gives me all the performance that I require. I'm very aware that when I get a bottleneck, it is always related to my Internet connection. It seems that for my purposes, lots of RAM is the main contributor to performance. Also, I'm running NT 4.0, and my system is very reliable. Its basically been up and running 7X24 for 6 years (getting at least 50 hours a week Internet usage) without a single problem.
But I would like to upgrade to a totally silent PC - and thats my conundrum - it seems that the majority of 'silencing' solutions discussed here are dealing with CPU's and motherboards that are extreme power hogs. Is there nothing currently on the market geared towards 'joe average' like myself who can use a 286 PII and hardly ever gets more than 30% CPU usage? Doesn't anybody sell an efficient motherboard/CPU that uses 'just' the power I need, without calling for a 300W+ PS and massive heatsinks and CPU fans? (I've been reading, but I still don't quite 'get' the Via offerings - maybe they are what I'm looking for?)
Thanks a lot for any insights - they are much appreciated.
Cheers,
Ian
I'm new to this silent PC game, and have spent many hours reading and searching this site today. Many thanks to all the contributors - it is a very coherent site, with exceptionally civil forums.
One thing that I have noticed is that much of the emphasis is on power supplies/cooling, cpu cooling, case fans and cases.
But as I start out, the thing that I've been wondering most about is which motherboard and CPU to buy? The reason this is on my mind is that I am very aware that I DON'T NEED 95% of the power (and subsequent heat, and subsequent cooling requirements, and subsequent noise battles) in current model CPU's!
I am currently running a 5-6 year old system (probably a 266 MHz PII - I cannot even remember) with 512M ram and a cable-modem to the Internet. I use my computer about 8 hours a day, but all I do with it is open multiple web browser windows, and a little email. Sometimes the browser windows are running Java applets, but it never gets more complicated than that. I never run games or complex graphics, and I haven't even opened my CDROM drive in over 2 years
My current flea-powered system gives me all the performance that I require. I'm very aware that when I get a bottleneck, it is always related to my Internet connection. It seems that for my purposes, lots of RAM is the main contributor to performance. Also, I'm running NT 4.0, and my system is very reliable. Its basically been up and running 7X24 for 6 years (getting at least 50 hours a week Internet usage) without a single problem.
But I would like to upgrade to a totally silent PC - and thats my conundrum - it seems that the majority of 'silencing' solutions discussed here are dealing with CPU's and motherboards that are extreme power hogs. Is there nothing currently on the market geared towards 'joe average' like myself who can use a 286 PII and hardly ever gets more than 30% CPU usage? Doesn't anybody sell an efficient motherboard/CPU that uses 'just' the power I need, without calling for a 300W+ PS and massive heatsinks and CPU fans? (I've been reading, but I still don't quite 'get' the Via offerings - maybe they are what I'm looking for?)
Thanks a lot for any insights - they are much appreciated.
Cheers,
Ian