P3 or C3 for mini-itx system?

[kaulike]

I am building a mini-ITX system to eventually go into a homebuilt or case mod. Haven't decided on the mod yet, but it will have adequate airflow.

I am debating between these systems. Both have similarly equipped motherboards, and both will be able to be made very quiet. The differences are going to be in motherboard support, performance, overall cost, and cooling requirements.

Either system:
512MB memory, appropriate for system $60
40GB Maxtor HDD with fluid bearings $50

P3 system:
Pentium III Tualatin 1.2GHz $80
Freetech P6215 socket 370/FC-PGA2 motherboard $95
enough fans: $20

C3 system:
VIA C3 Nehemiah 1GHz, soldered down
VIA M10000A motherboard $150
enough fans: $10

I am aware of the Celeron/P4 mini-ITX boards, but they are beyond my budget and in my estimation would require way too much cooling for this project. I am also aware of watercooling---beyond both budget and interest for now.

So... the P3 system will have probably twice the performance, will cost an extra $30 or so, and will likely require more fans and as a result will be louder. I believe Freetech is the only manufacturer with a mini-ITX sized motherboard for the Tualatin. Any less performance than that would probably simply lead me to the C3.

The C3 system is very slick, nearly ubiquitous among first-time case modders, and VIA's support for them is well known. There is no upgrade path, though there wouldn't be much of one with my P3 system either. It would be very, very quiet. However, the performance would be even less than a Celeron of similar clock speed. I want the system to be useful as well as small.

Thoughts and opinions are much appreciated!

thanks

 

[Novensu]

It would all depend on what you plan to do with the system. If its just a file server or something of that nature the C3 would be the way to go, simply for the noise factor. If you plan on doing any real work on the machine I would go the P3 route.


PS. I think newegg has the Tualatin processor for around $50.

Novensu

 

[DeFex]

tualatin is about 3 times faster than a c3, but you may have to use a slightly noisier cooling sollution.however, i used to use my tualatin with a zalman "flower" heatsink and no fan at all.

by the way where do you get that freetech board, it looks interesting.

 

[kaulike]

Thanks for the advice, it fits with what I had learned. I will probably go with the P3. It is a little more expensive, but I really want the system to be useful.

The cheapest 1.2GHz Tualatin I could find with the right pins (FC-PGA, not PPGA) is $71 at Directron---newegg only has the 1GHz Coppermine with smaller cache, and they want $88 for it. There is always ebay of course.

There are a couple of the boards on ebay, but I also found them here for $95:

<http://www.servercase.com/miva/miva?/Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SC&Product_Code=P6F-215&Category_Code=Motherboards>