Coolest running CPU?

[Skaven]

I'm bulding a computer that could be subject to a good amount of heat. It could see ambient temps of 120F plus! So I'm looking for the coolest running CPU out there. I was thinking that a Tualin Celeron (1.2ghz) would be a good choice. Its cheap and its .13 micron. No overclocking here!

Any other ideas?

 

[mrzed]

Celeron 1.2 would be a good choice.

But the coolest running chips out there are the (edit: .13 micron) cyrix C3's. No arguments.

If performance matters in any way, the celeron would slaughter it, but if all you are looking for is a web/email/ms office type of box, Cyrix is not a bad solution.

 

[Skaven]

What kind of mainboard does the Cyrix chip need to run on?

Thanks!

 

[mrzed]

Almost any late model socket 370 Board. The official word: Via compatibility list. Remember that this list is just the ones that have been certified by the manufacturer and guaranteed to work. Lots of other choices probably do work, but it's always worth it to post any combination somewhere like here just to see if someone else has tried it.

 

[Nate420]

Just out of curiosity, where is this box going to be? 120F ambient temps? This a PC for the sana? lol

 

[Skaven]

Well, in car temps with heat-load in AZ desert can reach upwards of 120F...

Perhaps a peltier wouldn't be a bad idea....

 

[CTho9305]

I think a peltier would be a very BAD idea. Assuming this computer is in the trunk, do you really want to add ANOTHER hundred watts worth of heat to it? that would raise your "ambient" temp to "very high" 😉. A Cyrix C3 would work very welll with just a regular heatsink + fan. Of course, depending on what you're doing, a socket 5 or socket 7 system might suffice... check out sandpile to get the wattages of various CPUs.