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Lowest Power/Heat CPU for Socket 478?

Z

ZzBloopzZ

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 18, 2004
Messages
1,330
I am building a Pfsense firewall on a barebone rackmount on socket 478, which I got for free. My main goal is to use the least amount of power, I already have enough computers running 24/7.

I'm guessing Celeron's are the lowest powered CPU's? The Celeron D 310 has caught my eye. it's 73W and only $6 shipped on eBay right now. The main reason I am looking at this chip is because it seems to be the latest manufactured Celeron for the 478 platform. It was released on December 2005. However, it's on the Prescott core. I know the P4 Prescott's were crap, they had heating issues and sucked up alot of juice. Is this also true for the Celerons?

If the Prescott Celly's are that bad, should I just pick up the lowest wattaged Celeron on the Northwood core? Here is a list I've been looking at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Celeron_microprocessors#Celeron.2C_.28single-core.29_2

Appreciate any feedback.
 
Pick up a Pentium 4-M. A few are rated for about 30w (some mobile Celerons are too I believe).
 
Just to verify. A Pentium 4-M will fit in a standard socket 478?

Thanks!


Edit: I may go for the Pentium 4-M 1.5GHz. It's $5 shipped and uses 26.9W.
 
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Per Intel's site, it should the same. Only difference I can see is the thickness due to the lack of a heatsink (which you'll want to be careful with so that you don't crush the die).
 
Blue Fox said:
Per Intel's site, it should the same. Only difference I can see is the thickness due to the lack of a heatsink (which you'll want to be careful with so that you don't crush the die).
Click to expand...

Ah. My rackmount comes with a custom heatsink, I've have to check if it's designed for just one thickness of CPU or if it's variable.
 
Yeah, for your socket, go with Northwood. All of the best performance improvement and power reduction came with that revision.

The P4 didn't really gain the reputation for being a space heater until Prescott came on the scene - this despite the fact that Northwood scaled up to 3.4 GHz!
 
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