A low power cpu?

Skiggy · Post by **Skiggy** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:27 pm

Are there any lower power CPUs compared to other CPUs that desktops use (like pentium D, celeron, etc)?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 5:04 pm

haha. not Pentium D, thats for sure.

to be honest, I think you might be a little SOL if you are trying to stick a low power CPU in an existing desktop socket. Your best bet is to look for a laptop processor. something in a Pentium M, or sempron or something. Im not positive how cross-compatible the sockets are.

65nm parts also tend to have lower power consumption then their 90nm counterparts.

If you are able to start from scratch, they have some pretty low power (in every sense) chips available on mini-itx boards and the like. like 5 or 10w. maybe you could even take one of those and put it in a desktop, I dont really know.

You can also underclock and undervolt and existing cpu to cool it down a bit.

Post by **gannon** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 5:08 pm

Pentium M would be the only one that comes to mind unless VIA makes their CPUs in socket format too

Skiggy · Post by **Skiggy** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 5:34 pm

I was looking at the pentium m and celeron m, but I cannot find a motherboard to go with them. Then again, you had said they are laptop processors, and the companies don't use socket motherboards at all, they just make their own. Are laptop motherboards just like a regular motherboard except in a diffrent layout or do they have, for instance a dell motherboard, does the dell motherboard have to have dell RAM or can it just take a certain number of pin RAM?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 6:43 pm

Why do you need a low power CPU? Low energy usage or low heat (kinda tied to each other but oh well).

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:01 am

my laptop (thinkpad r40) appears to have a normal p4-celeron in it. its socketed and I can pop it out.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 6:53 am

It's not an often thing but some laptop CPUs are offered in a ZIP package. I think for a short run (could be wrong) AMD offered the Turion64 as such. You'll have to look, but I"m fairly certain.

vskid, he might be looking to make a low power desktop. I can think of a dozen an one reasons but my best guess would be he wants to cut down on heat.

Skiggy · Post by **Skiggy** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 7:45 am

Mmmm, thanks guys. I was thinking of trying to build a laptop from scratch (Yes, I know it may be more expensive in the long run). The laptop I'm typing on now is a pentium 4, but it gets really hot. Does this happen to all pentium 4 in a laptop? Also, do Celeron processors use a bit less power?

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 10:54 am

Skiggy wrote:Mmmm, thanks guys. I was thinking of trying to build a laptop from scratch (Yes, I know it may be more expensive in the long run). The laptop I'm typing on now is a pentium 4, but it gets really hot. Does this happen to all pentium 4 in a laptop? Also, do Celeron processors use a bit less power?

If you're building a laptop, you also want a small motherboard. Check out http://www.mini-itx.com for small motherboard/cpu combos. Are you going to have the laptop battery powered? That could make your life suck.

P4's do get really hot in laptops. My friend's dad has a laptop with a P4 and it overheats and crashes if it isn't propped up while using it. My dad's laptop has a Sempron (which I think is faster than the P4 I mentioned) and his never overheats, gets hot, yes, but never overheats. I'm sure you can find reviews about what laptop is the coolest.

Felino · Post by **Felino** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:44 am

Making a laptop would be much harder than you think...

lifeisbetterwithketchup · Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:45 pm

Felino wrote:Making a laptop would be much harder than you think...

Powering it would be the hardest part. Desktop part suck quite a bit of power. Laptop parts are designed from the ground up to be power efficient (at least, more than desktops).