Cool'n'Quiet in an OEM PC?

Info & chat about quiet prebuilt, small form factor and barebones systems, people's experiences with vendors thereof, etc.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

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plympton
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:40 am

Cool'n'Quiet in an OEM PC?

Post by plympton » Mon Apr 05, 2004 10:22 am

I just got back from Circuit City, Best Buy, and Office Depot. I was looking for the new Athlon 64 a550e Pavilion from HP, or any Athlon 64 computer that:
a) Was pretty quiet as standard
b) Was silent when on Stand-by (all fans off)
c) Was EnergyStar rated
d) Supported Quiet'n'Cool

The first 2 were easy - most do that. C was questionable - the old Compaq Presarios say they are EnergyStar rated on the PC, but the new designs DON'T - bummer, or just left off the labels?

D was quite disappointing - the standard (F1) and advanced (F11) BIOS said nothing about Quiet and Cool on the Athlon 64-based a530e Pavilion. There was no software settings I could see that used it - so the question is - is it supported? What does the BIOS actually SAY?

Thanks for any responses to this!

-Dan

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Mon Apr 05, 2004 10:53 am

I don't know diddly about Athlons, but I do know about prebuilt systems and usually their BIOSes are pretty castrated. This may explain the lack of a feature like "Cool 'n Quiet" (or it may just show what a dimbulb I am when it comes to AMD stuff. If that's the case, consider this post a free bump!)

Jan Kivar
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Post by Jan Kivar » Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:09 am

Well, according to AMD, if You press WIN+Break(or Pause) while idling on the desktop, You should be able to see less-than-rated clock speed on the "System Properties" page. Here's a PDF from AMD, scroll down to the last page.

The driver might not be installed, but the board could still support Cool 'n' Quiet. So You should also check the info on page nine to see if the driver is installed or not.

Oh, and do note that the newer revisions of the A64 (CG core) run at 1000 MHz lowest, while the old ones run at 800 MHz. Despite the difference in clock speeds, 1000 MHz one runs ~10 Watts cooler than the old 800 MHz one because of lower voltage.

Cheers,

Jan

plympton
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:40 am

Post by plympton » Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:41 am

So, when you go to buy the processor, how do you know if you are getting the new core or not? It looks like all the processors are labeled "BOX", and don't give the core stepping.

I'd really like one of the newer core ones, but assume that the channel is filled with old ones.

Anyone know if Mobile Athlon 64's operate OK with Cool'n'Quiet? I notice they are around 22 Watts, too.

-Dan

Jan Kivar
Friend of SPCR
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Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 4:37 am
Location: Finland

Post by Jan Kivar » Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:23 am

At least NewEgg shows the model number for OEM versions. Looking at this AMD Athlon 64 document, the model number for the CG core ends with AR or AX.

The above document also states that mobile versions also support Cool 'n' Quiet (see the last pages). I don't know whether they're compatible with desktop motherboards.

Cheers,

Jan

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