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Help me choose: E1200 or E2180?

I

iroc409

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 17, 2006
Messages
1,387
I am picking up a new CPU for a server for home. I am trying to decide between the E2180 and the E1200. The box will either run FreeBSD, or Win Server 2008. If I run server, I will probably want to run VMware or hyper-v for a small FreeBSD system.

It will be used primarily for file and print sharing, and hopefully running something like freeradius for wireless security. I am building a dedicated dev/vmware box, so this one will not really need to run many services at all.

Basically, I'm just trying to decide if the extra $20 is worth it. The machine probably doesn't need this kind of horsepower. I wanted to run a 430 actually, but for some reason the D975XBX does not support 400-series Celerons. The D975XBX2 does, and I have one, but that will be in my VMware/dev box. The 430 also does not support EIST. I don't want to put any more into it than necessary, most of the parts are hand-me-downs from other systems.
 
The Celeron will be plenty for a home file and printer server. The bottleneck will be I/O and networking performance, not cache, so the L2 deficiency shouldn't matter a great deal. Plus, you could always overclock the Celeron a few hundred MHz if you find yourself needing more performance (I doubt that would ever happen though; this is a file server).
 
The E2180 is only $20 more, it's just harder to justify when there's no real need for the horsepower. I suppose down the road it may be a more useful CPU, but I really don't think I'll need to upgrade the thing for quite some time. I don't quite see why the board doesn't support the 400-series, but I guess the EIST should be a power advantage. I won't be overclocking at all, because we don't have central air and I am away from home a lot and my girl doesn't run the AC in the office very much. I want the system as stable as possible, but I did read they overclock really well.

It seems like the sole difference of the two is the cache, but I could be wrong.
 
I have E1200, and I would of got a higher end processor but
you can overclock it to 3.2ghz EASY
sooo..its should be enough
 
I, too, am looking at a Celeron 430, an E1200, or E2180 for my music/print/storage box. The most the box will ever do is F@H, and even though it kills me that it's only $20~ more for the E2180 over the E1200, the power really isn't needed. TBH, I'm actually more between the 430 and the E1200. The 35w TDP on the Celly 430 is attractive, since my print/file server is a small form factor machine.

For what it's worth, I would go for the E1200. Like you said, it's only 20 bucks, but do you really need the performance on a box that sits idle most of the time? Save the cash!
 
I don't think its so much the $20 as it is the percentage difference. If I were deciding between $20 and $40 the $20 would be a much greater difference than say, $220 and $240.
 
elleana said:
I don't think its so much the $20 as it is the percentage difference. If I were deciding between $20 and $40 the $20 would be a much greater difference than say, $220 and $240.
Click to expand...

elleana, you hit the nail on the head there. If it were a $20 difference on my main system CPU, it wouldn't even be a question.

Think - I was pretty much just going to get another 430 (have a 420 now in my firewall), but I don't really feel like gambling with board support. Something to think about though, the E1200 may use less power at idle with EIST enabled than the 430 which can't use it at all. Of course, it does require an EIST-capable operating system.

I read some reviews on this chip last night. I thought it was interesting that they hammered away at the E1200, but were comparing it to Core 2's with 4MB cache. That doesn't give you any idea how it compares in performance with an E2180, since that chip still has far less cache.

I think I'll just get the E1200. I have a fast Core 2 system for my dev/VMware box, there isn't any need for any more juice in this one. I would have used an old P3 system, but I wanted the benefits of a more modern I/O system.

Thanks for the input everyone, it was quite helpful! :D
 
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