Low Power system with Athlon Mobile CPU

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JimInKS
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:16 pm

Low Power system with Athlon Mobile CPU

Post by JimInKS » Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:24 pm

Am new to the forum and looking for advice -

Here is my Idea.

I am looking to build a quiet, low power system based on a 35 watt Athlon Mobile processor which uses a core voltage of 1.35V.

The system will be housed in an audio rack in a church sanctuary and be used to drive a video projection system (dual monitors), play music, and record services.

I found what looks like a great mATX case for this from Athenatech
http://www.athenatech.us/a100sc.htm

Now I need a mATX motherboard that will allow me to take advantage of the power saving features of the Mobile chip. I'll need integrated video plus an AGP slot so I can support dual monitors. I also prefer decent integrated audio to keep the cost down and to keep the case from getting too crowded.

After I get a motherboard selected, will worry about other components.
I have built many systems, but this will be my first attempt at quiet and low power. Any advice on how to do this will be greatly appreciated.

DonP
Posts: 433
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:47 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: Low Power system with Athlon Mobile CPU

Post by DonP » Wed Sep 29, 2004 3:41 pm

JimInKS wrote:Now I need a mATX motherboard that will allow me to take advantage of the power saving features of the Mobile chip. I'll need integrated video plus an AGP slot so I can support dual monitors. I also prefer decent integrated audio to keep the cost down and to keep the case from getting too crowded.
Hmm.. good luck with this - I looked long and hard for good undervoltable mATX boards and couldn't find many. I don;t think any of them had on board graphics either. There might have been one or two but they had a fan on the NB.. but if you want to risk it you may be able to fit a Zalman ZM-NB47J thingy to it.
Anyway, not sure if you've looked yet but this may be useful:
Undervoltable Motherboards: ADD to the list!!
Every now and again people ask about mATX boards.
I've noticed some new boards come out recently so they may not have made it to that thread.

Check also this.

Don't however take everything you read there as absolute truth - go to the manufacturers website, download the manual and look through the BIOS options, or through online reviews.

Good luck.

PS I run a 35W XP-M on a Soltek SL-75MIV2-L (no onboard graphics) and I gotta say it's a great little CPU.

DonP
Posts: 433
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2003 5:47 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: Low Power system with Athlon Mobile CPU

Post by DonP » Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:42 am

JimInKS wrote:I'll need integrated video plus an AGP slot so I can support dual monitors.
Just had a thought - if you only need two heads on the computer then get a graphics card with two outputs - then you won't need onboard graphics and you will have at least more than one board to choose from. I've never used it dual headed but my FX5200 is fanless and has VGA and DVI - i think it also came with a DVI->VGA adaptor, hence I have two VGA ports. Like i said though, I've never tried to run both - I only usually use it for TV out.

earworm
Posts: 43
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 3:07 am

Post by earworm » Mon Nov 01, 2004 2:22 pm

i got a matrox g550 , pretty cheap, i think its New around $40 or $50

two video outputs, no fan on that card, just a simple nice thing and works great

i wouldn't try using onboard vga and an agp card, you might get errors and conflicts

think its safer using a simple dual head card, like the one i named,

cheers,
earworm

Blooz
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2003 2:40 pm
Location: Ct. USA

Post by Blooz » Mon Nov 01, 2004 7:00 pm

Aren't most boards with onboard graphics are an "either or" situation - either you can use the onboard video OR a card in an AGP slot - not both at the same time?

A nice mATX board with onboard video is the Biostar M7NCG-400, which is an nForce 2 board. I can't comment on its underclockablity, though I can tell you that it will OVERclock pretty well! (I ran one all summer at 195X11, and it was solid as a rock!) This board will run in dual channel mode if the proper memory configuration is used.

teejay
Patron of SPCR
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Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:23 am
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Low Power system with Athlon Mobile CPU

Post by teejay » Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:50 pm

DonP wrote:
JimInKS wrote:I'll need integrated video plus an AGP slot so I can support dual monitors.
Just had a thought - if you only need two heads on the computer then get a graphics card with two outputs - then you won't need onboard graphics and you will have at least more than one board to choose from. I've never used it dual headed but my FX5200 is fanless and has VGA and DVI - i think it also came with a DVI->VGA adaptor, hence I have two VGA ports.
Both my ATi 9800 and 9200 run 2 screens just fine (second screen through the DVI > VGA adapter) as did my FX5600ultra before the 9800. I like the nVidia dual head driver support better than ATi but I usually end up just using the Windows XP standard features anyhow... and this is my personal preference, not an issue with either.

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