Underclocking a CPU

[imported_Chumley]

Im looking to build an e-mail server for a buddy of mine it must be left on all the time and would be best if it made little to no noise at all.

Would the best method be Underclocking say a Duron 1300 to something like 900 to get it to virtually run silent. Is that possible or the same as using a Duron 900?

Since his family will be the only ones on the box a mere 600mhz is even overkill.

The purpose is super low heat so the fan never really spins up and no noise?

Anyone try underclocking CPU's to try and make a silent PC if so can you link me to the article?

 

[dug777]

i took my tbred-b down to 500mhz i think for a while (unlocked multi ftw), still ran far too hot to turn the fan off, even with the voltage right down...

 

[F1shF4t]

I doubt u can do that with the k7 cores, they tend to run hot and will fry if ur not carefull, on the other hand k8 cores at 1.6ghz at 1.1vcore, can run with the stock heatsink with the fan completely removed.

 

[imported_Chumley]

Im actually considering doing this

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=M7VIG4-COMB29&cat=MBB

Socket A AMD Geode NX 1750 CPU INCLUDED
14 Watts Average Power Consumption
25 Watts Maximum Thermal Design Power (TDP)

Using a 40 gig hard drive from my old tivo which I dont even think runs at 5400 rpm.

Its more than I want to spend but it should be perfectly silent and will do what I need.

 

[2gigs]

Personally, id get a k8 s754 semperon, and pair it with a cheap mobo, and you got a nice setup, its also future proof if spam comes in by the 100s lol, but it should work better, and you can do other things on thare also

 

[imported_Chumley]

If this were to be a machine that did anything else I would get more powerful parts however the first requirement is very very low wattage and heat output so the fans can run silent to the point where you wont hear this machine. Not more than 3-4 people at most will be accessing the box so it doesnt require any real power.

I would love it if some site would take the time and try to create a non enthusiast silent PC from todays parts without trying to make a super computer run silent because that costs cash. Athlon 64, Sempron, P4, etc and todays motherboards really how low in power can you bring them down to?

BTW Semprons 2200+ uses 62W and in a small case could get warm and cause the fan noise to come out.

I am still going with the geode however this did cross my mind.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813185043

The guy was able to get this and several hard drives running under 50 watts total.

Heck I would use a PDA CPU if I knew it could power an exchange server.

 

[Lonyo]

The other option is underclocking a mobile XP.
There are quite a lot of near silent PC's (most HTPC's try and be quiet - and a lot are moving to Intel Core processors for this reason).