Underclocking a Celeron 1200

[tridion]

I am currently looking to build a small, silent system mainly for playing divx and mp3s.

The parts I am looking to get are :

Morex Cubid 2688 mini-itx case (uses a silent external power supply)
A Jetway BN860T motherboard
A Celeron Tualatin 0.13 1200 cpu
Barracuda IV Hard drive
Toshiba sd2402 slimline dvd drive (case only takes slimline CD/DVD)
etc, etc.

What I would like to know is, if I underclock the celeron 1200 by changing the bus speed from 100 to 66mhz (effectively making it about a celeron 800) and reduce the voltage, would I be able to just use a large good quality heatsink without a fan ?

If I can do this, then it will be a fanless system.

[bluehat]

I doubt if this MB is undervoltable. In the worst case you can't fit any large heatsink to it and won't be able to undervolt. By looking at the pictures, most 8x8 heatsinks won't fit it. In the best case, zalman heatsink fits it and you can even undervolt.

And after fitting a large heatsink to the MB, it probably won't fit on this small case, and in a closed case without fans there will be bad thermal problems. There isn't much sense in using a pc without (quiet) fans if the hd isn't completely silenced. If you silence the hd to 0 dB(A), the pc won't be small and light any more.

[bluehat]

Here's some ideas on building a silent, fanless and small system.

-make lots of ventilation holes to case cover

-fill 2 small plastic bags with sand and put the hd between them airtightly and try to fit it inside the case. Even 1cm layer of sand reduces noise levels significantly, making an already quiet hd practically inaudible.

-get some 1,5mm silver wire from a local jewel shop (should be about 10 euros/m), BIG aluminum heatsink from electronic shop and a copper block that fits on socket370. Glue the heatsink to case cover over the cpu. Make 25 1,5mm holes to the heatsink (through the cover) and copper block and connect them with silver. If the length is measured correctly, the copper block is pressed nicely on the cpu core when you close the case.

[quokked]

Here's some ideas on building a silent, fanless and small system.

-get some 1,5mm silver wire from a local jewel shop (should be about 10 euros/m), BIG aluminum heatsink from electronic shop and a copper block that fits on socket370. Glue the heatsink to case cover over the cpu. Make 25 1,5mm holes to the heatsink (through the cover) and copper block and connect them with silver. If the length is measured correctly, the copper block is pressed nicely on the cpu core when you close the case.

have u done this b4 bluehat? if so pics?

[tridion]

Thanks for the info. So if this case/motherboard is not the option, I will look at either a flex atx / micro atx system.

Could someone give me some recommendations for :

1. A good flex/micro atx motherboard for a pentium celeron tualatin 1200 cpu. Must be able to change bus to 66mhz and undervolt.
2. A good flex/micro atx case. Must take a standard atx power supply as I already have a quietpc one to use in this.

If I get a setup that will allow me to undervolt, will I be able to use the underclocked cpu without a fan. (I have already silenced the HD).

[crisspy]

One other strange option is a slot 1 mobo with a slocket converter card. You can set the VCore and frequency with many better slocket cards, and I have seen modding info as well for full manual overides. You would have to be really careful though about Taluatin compatability. I know that's all pretty retro, but you can find some pretty cool old slot 1 mobos these days for peanuts, even whole machines. I had a really cool MSI 'book' computer in NLX formfactor with a slot 1, ISA + PCI riser, ATI Rage2PRO + 4mb, 10/100 Ethernet, USB and sound all onboard. Bought barebones 3 for $45usd surplus by a friend in California. It would have been a killer machine with a higher speed cpu on the right converter card, but I sold it to my inlaws where it jogs faithfully along on it's 400mhz celeron.