45W X2's?

[Lanz]

Where are all the 45W Athlon X2's gone? I want one to pop into a 780G board.

There used to be BE chips around, but I cant see any in the normal shops i goto.

 

[amkan13]

search for "AMD Athlon 64 X2 BE-2400 energy efficient socket AM2 processor " in your favourite search engine, you see them in stock at ~£50

 

[Lanz]

ah, the BE ones have been replaced now with these

"AMD Athlon 64 X2 4450e 2.3GHz Socket AM2 Energy Efficient 1MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor"

Its £50 tho, was hoping to get a lower spec one, for a little less. Something like a 4050e.

 

[amkan13]

you can get the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4050e 2.1GHz for £42.54inc vat

search for "AMD AM2 Athlon 64 / Sempron / Athlon 64 X2 (Socket 940)" in your favourite search engine, click the 2nd link you see... and look for the above processor in the category you searched for.

 

[Lanz]

damn, i'm sure that wasnt there earlier

edit: doh, its gone again...

 

[DJMK4]

I just bought a 45W AMD64 X2 4000+ (Socket AM2) from a well known site for £41inc free shipping!! bargain Also picked up my 780G board there

 

[Drukk]

Whats the benefit of buying these athlons instead of an Intel 21XX? Are they not slower for more money?

 

[amkan13]

they are have a low power, which means they produce less heat and can be cooled passively...ideal for a htpc set-up when combined with a matx mobo utilising a amd780g chipset which can do onboard hd decoding.
platform wise intel/nvidia cant touch what amd have done with the combination of products.
for a htpc speed doesnt matter that much as long as you have enough speed to decode/capture/encode HD content. the radeon hd3200 on the 780g mobos takes quite a lot of decoding away from the cpu so you have enough left over to do other things at the same time if you wish with one of the low power 45w chips.

 

[Lanz]

Yup, if there was an intel equivalent of the AMD 780G I'd use that and my current 2140, but the 780G is far ahead of all s775 boards right now.

 

[BubbySoup]

I have a 4850e and a 780G HTPC setup. 1 fan in the PSU and 2 in the case make the entire setup pretty much silent unless I get down on the floor and put my ear up to it.

Thrown every kind of HD content at it and it hasn't jittered once. It's pretty much the perfect HTPC combo that Intel can't touch right now.

 

[Drukk]

they are have a low power, which means they produce less heat and can be cooled passively...ideal for a htpc set-up when combined with a matx mobo utilising a amd780g chipset which can do onboard hd decoding.
platform wise intel/nvidia cant touch what amd have done with the combination of products.
for a htpc speed doesnt matter that much as long as you have enough speed to decode/capture/encode HD content. the radeon hd3200 on the 780g mobos takes quite a lot of decoding away from the cpu so you have enough left over to do other things at the same time if you wish with one of the low power 45w chips.

You have got me thinking now, Im presently building an HTPC and was going to get an intel 21XX but after reading a review of the 780G chipset, this might be a better option. How much hotter does the chip run with just passive cooling and what cooler do you use?

 

[mdjmcnally]

I have a 4850e and a 780G HTPC setup. 1 fan in the PSU and 2 in the case make the entire setup pretty much silent unless I get down on the floor and put my ear up to it.

Thrown every kind of HD content at it and it hasn't jittered once. It's pretty much the perfect HTPC combo that Intel can't touch right now.

They have even had a sempron as the CPU and playback of bluray was flawless as well. At the moment this combo is the one to get if starting from scratch.

If going for passive cooling then make sure good airflow through the case, but they don't generate much heat at all.

 

[amkan13]

You have got me thinking now, Im presently building an HTPC and was going to get an intel 21XX but after reading a review of the 780G chipset, this might be a better option. How much hotter does the chip run with just passive cooling and what cooler do you use?

i built the htpc for a friend a while back. used an antec fusion case with a scythe mini ninja cpu cooler. i didnt bother mounting the supplied fan on it, as the 2 x 120mm fans on the case are close by. also didnt try the stock amd heatsink so cant offer any comparisons. temps were around 25-30 degC idle and 40-45 degC under load if i remember correctly.

im sure the chip would be fine using the scythe mini ninja without any fans close by too.
choice of cooler depends on the case you are getting, pay special attention to dimensions and placement, as htpc cases come in all shapes and sizes.

 

[Lanz]

At lowest speed, the retail AMD heatsink is virtually silent anyway, so I'll probably just use that.

I also wonder what the new dual semprons are like, as they are cheap and also 45W i think.

edit: Hmm dual semprons are about the same as a 3800 X2 in performance it seems, not bad, but then they are 65W cpus.