Which of AOpen EZ65 or EZ18 and what CPU to go for?

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Thu Nov 04, 2004 4:42 am

Hi guys,
Really cool

place this.
I'm into buying a barebone system and after reading every review out there I decided to go for an Aopen XC cube. (Have to see an ASUS S-presso review first though)
But I'm having a problem to determine which of EZ65 (Intel & S-ATA) or EZ18 (AMD & TV-out).
Since I'm on a small budget I'll run Linux and my CPU options are limited to:
1. Intel Celeron or Celeron D
(Don't know the difference more than 128/256 kB cache)
2. AMD Sempron
3. AMD Athlon XP Mobile
With the mobile CPU I'm not sure if it will work. But I thought that would be the quietest solution.

Which combination is likely to be the quietest?
brgds
Andy

flyingsherpa · Post by **flyingsherpa** » Thu Nov 04, 2004 10:00 am

well i've played with both systems and i think the EZ65 is quieter. the EZ18's hsf seemed much lower quality than the 65's and the fan seems to run faster because of it. i suppose if you used a mobile XP in the 18 then maybe you could get cool enough to run the fan slower. but IIRC, you have to use a few tricks to get the 18 to run a mobile cpu.

i stuck a P4 2.0 Northwood (look it up, very good power consumption) for about $100 and i think it's a great little machine (it was for my parents). not as quiet as my rig, but pretty quiet.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Thu Nov 04, 2004 1:28 pm

The EZ18 is significantly cheaper - at least in my country.

While the XP Mobile is not listed in the compatibility list, the Sempron 2400+ and 2500+(ES) are and personally I'd go with one of those (I'm looking at the same question myself) You should be able to get a pretty cool system with a Sempron and probably hell of a lot faster than a Celeron too.

Plus you get the benefit of a better VGA quality with the onboard nVidia graphics than the Intel Xtreme on the EZ65.

And if the onboard cooler turns out to be lousy as flyingsherpa said, you could always invest the money you saved in a better CPU cooler

IMO the only reason to go with a more expensive Intel solution would be if you're considering the EA65 - the one with the AV bells & whistles.

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:00 pm

Andy wrote:1. Intel Celeron or Celeron D
(Don't know the difference more than 128/256 kB cache)

The Celeron D is based on the newer Prescott core and runs hotter than the older Celerons. So it is a no go for a silent system.

Welcome to SPCR

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Thu Nov 04, 2004 11:47 pm

I got the same answer from AOpen that I shouldn't run a XP-m in EZ18.
Guess I'll stay away from that idea then.

EZ65 is actually a little bit cheaper here but it's not very much.
On the ohter hand there is no P4-nonCeleron under 200$ and the Semprons costs about 100$.

So I guess I'll go for the EZ18 since there is the TV-out as a bonus.
Thanks for your quick help guys
brgds
Andy

Hazelrah · Post by **Hazelrah** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:18 pm

I'm a little late jumping in, but I'm pretty happy with my EZ18 w/ XP 2500 CPU. There are some issues with noise (see the other thread) but you can't beat the price/performance of the Barton CPUs (I got mine for $65). I don't know much about the Semprons, but don't they have less cache than their Barton equivalent? Can't imagine them being a very good deal...

From what I understand the problem with the XP-M's is that you can't set the multiplier high enough in the BIOS, but I think you can use a Windows utility to do it. If I knew somebody with an XP-M I would definitely swap out my chip to try it out because I do have some heat issues.

Hope some of this helps.

-Hazelrah

Which of AOpen EZ65 or EZ18 and what CPU to go for?

Which of AOpen EZ65 or EZ18 and what CPU to go for?

Re: Which of AOpen EZ65 or EZ18 and what CPU to go for?