Re: [SLUG] new motherboard

From: Eben King (eben01@verizon.net)
Date: Thu Apr 05 2007 - 15:58:22 EDT


On Thu, 5 Apr 2007, Ian C. Blenke wrote:

> Eben King wrote:
>
>> You pay $4 extra for the "(65W)" variant. They have the same cache sizes
>> (L1=128K+128K, L2=2*512K). I see on other sites that the non-65W version
>> has a power consumption of 89W, so my WAG is that the 65W version is lower
>> power and therefore slower?
>
> When the dies are cut out of the wafer and tested, each is rated on its heat
> dissipation, power use, any failed area of the chip that can be routed around
> or disabled altogether and sold as a lower end unit (think Sempron), etc.
>
> To this end, the chips that are rated lower power are really just the higher
> quality chips. As such, you don't need to run them at a higher power level to
> get the electrons to flow through malformed/inadequate pathways, or whatever
> other defects may have appeared during manufacture.
>
> Is it worth the $4 extra? If you want to overclock, hells yes. If you want a
> lower power more efficient machine like a laptop or some
> idle-most-of-the-time home server, then sure. Heck, for $4, the piece of mind
> knowing that chip passed more strenuous tests than the chip that was $4
> cheaper is well worth it to me.
>
> That's my take on it anyway.

OK, cool. Yes, this machine is on all the time and mostly idle (the room
only has got 1 AC vent). What I've chosen so far are:

motherboard:
ASUS M2N-E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131096
mem voltage max=1.95v, socket=AM2
$101

CPU:
Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (65W)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103749
socket=AM2
$124

RAM:
Mushkin 996529 (2 1GB sticks)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146599
voltage=1.8v
$185 ($20 rebate)

HSF:
Zalman CNPS 9700
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019
$64

video card:
ASUS EN7600GS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121008
$103

total: $577 with a $20 rebate

How do I tell if my power supply will suffice? Not sure of the wattage
("300" springs to mind, but so does "350"). It's got one of those square
plugs, 2*black + 2*yellow, but none of those ~6-pin linear jobbies, and the
mobo connector is 20 but the new one takes 24. I have an adapter that came
with another PS I could press into service...

The board has two IDE connectors, which I'll use for my HDs and optical
drives. They'll be replaced with SATA drives by attrition. The board also
has two PCI slots, which I'll use for the SCSI card (to drive the scanner)
and the sound card (SB Live!).

Sound OK?

-- 
-eben   QebWenE01R@vTerYizUonI.nOetP   http://royalty.mine.nu:81
               "God does not play dice" -- Einstein
        "Not only does God play dice, he sometimes throws
        them where they can't be seen." -- Stephen Hawking
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