mATX motherboard for Mobile Athlon XP

[StarTech]

I want to build a small factor system with low noise. I have seen the AMD 45WMOBILEAthlon XP 2400+ at Newegg and I wonder what would be a good current motherboard that supports these processors. I wonder if they are standard XPs or they use lower voltage, in which case may not work on all socket A motherboards.

Anybody out there using one of these processors or has experience with them?

 

[StarTech]

up

 

[Vette73]

Usually the old mobile ones were just desktop chips that were underclocked and under volted.

Best mATX board IMOP would be the Shuttle MN31N. As for CPU just get a Athlon 2100-2600 and lower the mulitplier and voltage. Also the XP's run way cooler then older chips, so it does not take a lot to cool them now, unless you overclcok.

 

[Peter]

There are several grades of Mobile Athlons. "Desktop Replacement" ones are standard processors, hand selected particularly good units that run at a lower voltage. Then there's the normal mobiles, which run at lower voltages AND have PowerNow! dynamic clock and voltage change technology. Finally there are the Ultra Low Voltage ones, which are hand selected particularly good units of the latter flavor.

The "desktop replacement" chips without PowerNow! run in every normal mainboard - they're the same silicon, just strapped for a lower voltage.

 

[StarTech]

Marlin, lowering voltage and frequency is an option I will probably use.

Do the MN31N (or 35) allow setting the CPU core voltage to lower it? I just took a look at the pdf user guide and does not seem to have such an option.

 

[Peter]

It's not up to you to lower the voltage and frequency - AMD have already done that for you.

 

[StarTech]

Peter, if so, the motherboard has to be aware of the different chip, which takes me back to my initial question. Are these processors supported by current motherboards? Are these cpus supported. They are "AXMH".

 

[Peter]

AXMH is just the lot code. What's the PRODUCT code?

Your best chance actually is a rather simple mainboard that does NOT allow for voltage modifications. That's because on these simple boards, the CPU directly sets the voltage regulator up, without any "knowledge" inbetween.

 

[StarTech]

The ones in newegg are from

AMD 45WMOBILEAthlon XP 1700+, 1.47GHz /266MHz BUS 256K, AXMH1700FHQ3C

to

AMD 45WMOBILEAthlon XP 2500+, 1.88 GHz /266MHz BUS 256K, AXMH2500FQQ4C

Are you familiar with them? Is the lower power rating significant?

 

[Peter]

Now you can take that product code, and go read AMD's datasheet of the Mobile Athlon, the "Ordering Information" chapter in particular. This lets you decode the AXMH... code, where the letters behind the speed grade tell you all the details. Power consumption data are also in this document; compare for yourself against the same document for normal desktop parts.

 

[StarTech]

Do you mean here?

I was there before, but...

 

[StarTech]

I have been unable to find the AXMH types on the AMD site. I only found a refernce in Google saying:

AX/AXP Athlon XP Palomino Desktop
AHM Athlon 4 Palomino Mobile
AHX/AMP Athlon MP Palomino Server/Workstation
AHL/AXL Athlon Palomino Small Form Factor
AXDA Athlon XP Thoroughbred/Barton Desktop
AXMS Athlon XP Thoroughbred/Barton Mobile 25W
AXMD Athlon XP Thoroughbred/Barton Mobile 35W
AXMH Athlon XP Thoroughbred/Barton Mobile 45W
AMSN Athlon MP Thoroughbred/Barton Server/Workstation
AXLD Athlon XP Thoroughbred Small Form Factor
DHD Duron Morgan Desktop
DHM Duron Morgan/Morgino Mobile
DHL Duron Morgan Small Form Factor

 

[StarTech]

While I have not been able to find these CPUs in any of the AMD documentation, I have been able to decode the product code, and they are

Package F=OPGA
Voltage Q=1.45, L=1.50, H=1.55
Core Temp Q=100 degrees max
Cache 3=256, 4=512
FSB C=266

Now the question is, do any of this popular microATX motherboards allow you to manually set the voltage to 1.45V , 1.50V or 1.55V.

Also, will they recognize the processors at all?

 

[Peter]

Are they PowerNow! enabled or aren't they? If not, I wouldn't worry. And as I said, mainboards that don't allow manual voltage settings are most likely to get it right - simply because it's fully automated then.

 

[StarTech]

I don't kow if they are or not. I have not been able to find the specs for them, just to decode the ordering code by looking at the general table, but these where not in the tables.

 

[StarTech]

I tried to contact ASUS support to ask if their mATX motherboards support these CPS, but I could not get to submit the question because of some bug on the web page.

I did contact Shuttle and the answer is that the AK38N has support for AMD mobile processor.

Unfortunately it is an ATX and not an mATX.