Replacement for Athlon 1.4

[syuri]

Guys,

I have a machine with older Athlon 1.4 CPU (Thunderbird?) and MSI Turbo MB.
I am going to run Linux server at home for personal usage on it. My current CPU
is good heating device and I am wondering is there good drop in CPU replacement
with better thermal properties and inexpensive. This server will not be heavy
overloaded and computational power of my current setup is quite satisfactory for me.
I do not want to invest much money in it, only CPU change.
What could you recommend?

 

[Nickel020]

I'd get a cheap A64 (single core probably) and undervolt and underclock it. Check out silentpcreview.com , the people there should have experience at underclocking to reduce power consumption.

 

[syuri]

Nickel020,

thanks for your advise, but if I get A64 it will not fit my current MB and I need to buy another MB and probably memory too. I want just take out my current CPU and put new one with better power consumption.

 

[Markfw]

I don;t think there are any processors made anymore for your motherboard, but I could be wrong.

 

[nanaki333]

well, if it's the socket-a athlon thunderbird, and the motherboard supports a 333fsb, you can get a pretty decent sempron or athlon XP. if it supports at least a 266fsb, you can get a decently fast athlon xp, i think 2500 or so uses 266.

 

[mbeleni]

Be sure that your motherboard can support a faster processor before looking to purchase it. Check your mobo manufacturer's site for bios info, see what options you have. I think Thunderbird topped out at 1.4 ghz so you'll need support for a Barton or something like that.

 

[syuri]

Ok, just googled little bit more and found possible candidates (see below,
from http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-MSI/K7T_Turbo_(MS-6330).html)

Will Athlon XP CPUs be noticeable better in thermal properties than Athlon 1.4
or I should not bother?

Frequency Features BIOS PCB
AMD Athlon XP
1500+ (0.18u) 133/266MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
1600+ (0.18u) 133/266MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
1700+ (0.18u) 133/266MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
1800+ (0.18u) 133/266MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
AMD Duron
900 (0.18u) 100/200MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
900 (0.18u) 100/200MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
950 (0.18u) 100/200MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
950 (0.18u) 100/200MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
1 GHz (0.18u) 100/200MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
1 GHz (0.18u) 100/200MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
1.1 GHz (0.18u) 100/200MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3
1.2 GHz (0.18u) 100/200MHz FSB W6330VMS.360 3

 

[Markfw]

They are better, but I wouldn;t put a dime into obsolete tech.....

Where can you even buy one ? other than used ?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Not worth it, keep what you have.

 

[syuri]

I am not looking into improving CPU power, but only improve THERMAL properties. I have two PCs (desktop and Linux server) running in small room and it is becoming quite hot in there and I do not want to put Linux box in sleep mode by obvious reasons.

As I understood from your, guys, replies, Athlon XP or Durons will not improve my situation, so I just stop.

Markfw900, I can buy used CPU of eBay or say on hardforum and saw on pricewatch too.

Anyway, thanks for advises, I appreciate it.

 

[Stumps]

you should be able to use a 266fsb Athlon XP Palamino core up to 2100+...but they weren't all that much faster than the old T-bird 1.4ghz.

 

[A554SS1N]

I wouldn't touch any Athlon XP - they're ancient and all far too hot - get a cheap Socket AM2 or Socket 754 Sempron and undervolt it. A cheap motherboard and some cheap RAM shouldn't be hard to come by and could keep the total upgrade cost to very reasonable low levels.

 

[Brunnis]

Originally posted by: syuri
Ok, just googled little bit more and found possible candidates (see below,
from http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-MSI/K7T_Turbo_(MS-6330).html)

Will Athlon XP CPUs be noticeable better in thermal properties than Athlon 1.4
or I should not bother?

No, the AthlonXP, being manufactured on the same 180nm process, will not be much better when it comes to power consumption. As I see it, you have two options:

1. Underclock the Athlon to 1GHz and undervolt it from its default 1.75V. You could be able to bring it down to 1.5V or so, in which case the power consumption would be much lower.

2. Sell your motherboard and CPU and get a used S754 board with a 90nm Sempron or Athlon 64. If you have regular SDRAM on your Athlon machine, you'd have to sell the memory too and get DDR instead. All-in-all, you'll definitely not have to spend a lot of money to do this upgrade.

 

[Arkaign]

If it's just going to be a basic Linux server (no Gui?) .. you can get a VIA C3 866 or so, a cheap Socket 370 mATX mobo, and a silent 150W mATX psu, all for $100 or so. The C3 can run with just a moderate heatsink, no fan required. Performance will be noticably slower than the Athlon, but it will have a fraction of the heat/noise.

 

[SlowSpyder]

A mobile XP2500+ might work. I believe they ran on a 266mhz fsb and use only 1.4 volts. You could probably underclock and lower the voltage further.

 

[gwag]

amd geode 1750, 1500 (6w) can run WILL run much cooler than a 1.4 Thunderbird you can even run them at 1Ghz with no fan.
if the board supports XPs it should support tbred B's which do run cooler. what board do you have exactly?

 

[syuri]

SlowSpyder, my MB will accept only XPs up to 1800+, which is 180nm technology, all higher XPs are 90nm and will not work for me.

I think best way to underclock as Brunnis advised first.

What about Duron 1.2, Does it have similar to my Atlon 1.4 heat dissipation or it may by noticeably better?
If not I will try just to underclock.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: syuri
SlowSpyder, my MB will accept only XPs up to 1800+, which is 180nm technology, all higher XPs are 90nm and will not work for me.

I think best way to underclock as Brunnis advised first.

What about Duron 1.2, Does it have similar to my Atlon 1.4 heat dissipation or it may by noticeably better?
If not I will try just to underclock.

dead wrong all AXP'S using the Palamino core upto 2100+ use the 180nm core, all T-bred and barton core were 130nm cores

I have sold plenty of these boards in the past and they support upto 2100+ with a Palamino core.

a 2100+ palamino will have slightly better thermal charactristics than a 1.4 T-bird...but they still run damn hot.

 

[nanaki333]

if you're that concerned with heat, get a via c3 set they can be had for like $50. there's also the via c7 sets as well for about $150. both run incredibly cool and should be enough for a personal home server box.

 

[rogue1979]

If your thunderbird is a 133MHz cpu, put the fsb on 100Mhz for 1050MHz cpu speed.

Then lower the cpu voltage from the stock 1.75 volts to as low as you can get stable.

Maybe 1.2 to 1.4 volts, should run much cooler, doesn't cost a cent.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: Stumps
you should be able to use a 266fsb Athlon XP Palamino core up to 2100+...but they weren't all that much faster than the old T-bird 1.4ghz.

The thermal question, however, is that the Palomino, running stock core speed, runs plenty cool. You can touch the base of the heat sink without any pain, it's so cool, and that's just a regular AMD cooling device that came with a Barton 2600 XP, I think (the fan did wear out, and was replaced by a Cooler Master part).

I still have the (Gigabyte-MB) PC that I was running a Thunderbird 1.33 in until two years ago, and tried that XP 2600 in, but the MB didn't like that one. Max was the 2100, and for even that, a BIOS Flash was needed. I can well recall swapping the GF3 Ti-200 in it for a Ti-4600 and seeing the temps for everything zoom way up after that. At first, I had a 92 to 70 mm fan adapter and big fan atop whatever the T-Bird had come with, but I also added case fans, that hadn't been needed with just the Ti-200.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: syuri
I am not looking into improving CPU power, but only improve THERMAL properties. I have two PCs (desktop and Linux server) running in small room and it is becoming quite hot in there and I do not want to put Linux box in sleep mode by obvious reasons.

As I understood from your, guys, replies, Athlon XP or Durons will not improve my situation, so I just stop.

Markfw900, I can buy used CPU of eBay or say on hardforum and saw on pricewatch too.

Anyway, thanks for advises, I appreciate it.

It looks like it can only handle Palamino athlonXP, and those chips run even hotter than the thunderbirds did as they added more features to the core but it's still a .18micron chip.

 

[Gautama2]

You want lower power consumption. Beter consumption would mean you want a more power-hungry cpu.

 

[Maximilian]

Just go with the underclock/undervolt option.

 

[CP5670]

I might be able to use something like this too. I have the same processor in my retro gaming rig and it routinely gets to about 73C on load, even with a reasonably good heatsink and noisy fan on it. I need to keep the motherboard (Asus A7M266) though since it supports the ISA emulation needed for the SBLive's SB16 support to work in DOS games; most newer boards don't work with this.

This motherboard doesn't support multiplier adjustments (only FSB changes, but there were no async bus frequencies back then so I don't want to mess with that), but I think I can still undervolt it. Need to see what the BIOS offers.