Ongoing TITAN, first listening tests with DIY amplifier (1 Viewer)

[CoolHammer]

MrSensitive:

I'll just have to ask this. Did you make those cases. If you did, i must say that they look brilliant. Any change to make one for my htpc too :wink:

CoolHammer

 

[jcee]

The Mobile Athlon's do run much cooler, but I would not overclock it..
this means reintroducing more heat.. and we don't want heat do we?

General question:

Does any mobile Athlon (XP or 64) does run on a desktop board?
Are there any limitations?
My expectations would be that it does switch the multiplier on-the-fly AND it reduces core voltage, which would lead to significant decrease in heat/noise..

Right? or are there any limitations. (e.g.) On dekstop Mobos the voltage is not decreased or whatever..

What would be the difference between a "normal" Cool and quiet Athlon and a mobile one?

(Sorry for asking stupid questions, I spend to days googling around, but I did not fully understand it, please give me a short(!) lesson)

Thanks in advance

 

[MrSensitive]

Guys,

thanks for the reply's.

It's still an ongoing project, the front of the amplifier is coming along nicely.
when finished there are blue led behind the triangle.should give a very nice effect. (prolly gonna use a potentiometer to adjust the brightness of the led's)

the amp still requires some circuitry for controlling it via the HTPC. (NEVER shut off the HTPC without turning of the amp first)

maxtrash:
the other comonents will dissapear all together, HTPC will replace them all

Coolhammer:
I kinda stole the design from aragon electronics, they make high end audio equipment... so I would rather not build any more of these..

jcee:
I have no clue, maybe maxtrash has some info about thsi, looks like he is the specialist..

 

[maxtrash]

General question:

Does any mobile Athlon (XP or 64) does run on a desktop board?
Are there any limitations?

you need the one with the right socket

don't know where you live, just an example
http://www.nordpc.de
http://shop.nordpc.com/scripts/artinfo.php4?ARTNR=A 16288

since they sell for about the same price as the semprons it's an option to get one if you find a decent shop that carries them. Probably nothing wrong with semprons either.

My expectations would be that it does switch the multiplier on-the-fly AND it reduces core voltage, which would lead to significant decrease in heat/noise..

All Athlon 64 support cool 'n quiet which means that the multiplier and voltage is decreased on the fly. I think they run quite cool already (considering it's speed).

Right? or are there any limitations. (e.g.) On dekstop Mobos the voltage is not decreased or whatever..

What would be the difference between a "normal" Cool and quiet Athlon and a mobile one?

yes, although theoretically it's possible for desktop mobo's with athlon xp-m to decrease the multiplier and voltage on the fly, I wouldn't count on it. It's just that these mobile cpu's are selected to run on a lower voltage This makes a difference in power/temperature.

(Sorry for asking stupid questions, I spend to days googling around, but I did not fully understand it, please give me a short(!) lesson)

Thanks in advance

no problem

 

[tklon]

To choose a Cool'N'Quit Motherboard with an Athlon 64 CPU will make things easier. The mobo should be able to change vcore and multiplier on the fly.

On the AMD Athlon XP platform it is not that easy to configure a system. There are many problems with running a XP-M on a desktop board.

Here is what I found out:
- Mobos with nForce2 Chipset boot up with a multiplier of 6x and you can't change that with software under Windows.
- Most mobos do not allow to set the vcore to a lower value. They set the vcore for desktop CPU. Here's a link for boards with vcore adjustment down to 1.1V (unfortunately in german): http://www.silenthardware.de/forum/index.php?showtopic=2034
- Mobos with VIA and SIS Chipset (mostly) boot up with the maximum multiplier. The multiplier on VIA boards can be changed with software.
- Vcore adjustment with software works only for few boards.

And this is the setup of my htpc:
AMD Athlon XP-M 2400, 1.8 GHz, 35W, 1.35V
Soltek SL-75MIV2-L, MicroATX, VIA KM400 Chipset

The CPU runs at 1.3V set in BIOS. I use the Cool'N'Quit feature of CrystalCPUID with 3 multipliers (7.5x in idle, 10.5x, 13.5x on load).

 

[maxtrash]

To choose a Cool'N'Quit Motherboard with an Athlon 64 CPU will make things easier. The mobo should be able to change vcore and multiplier on the fly.

true

On the AMD Athlon XP platform it is not that easy to configure a system. There are many problems with running a XP-M on a desktop board.

haven't read about many problems myself.

Here is what I found out:
- Mobos with nForce2 Chipset boot up with a multiplier of 6x and you can't change that with software under Windows.

installed an xp-m in two nforce2 mainboards and both worked flawlessly with a lower voltage (dunno exactly, 1.4 volts I think)
one of them being an a7n8x-e, the mainboard Wally was thinking about getting

- Most mobos do not allow to set the vcore to a lower value. They set the vcore for desktop CPU. Here's a link for boards with vcore adjustment down to 1.1V (unfortunately in german): http://www.silenthardware.de/forum/index.php?showtopic=2034
- Mobos with VIA and SIS Chipset (mostly) boot up with the maximum multiplier. The multiplier on VIA boards can be changed with software.
- Vcore adjustment with software works only for few boards.

even if you don't put the voltage down to 1,1 volts or use dynamic changing of the multiplier, it still saves you 50% or so for no real extra costs so why not?

And this is the setup of my htpc:
AMD Athlon XP-M 2400, 1.8 GHz, 35W, 1.35V
Soltek SL-75MIV2-L, MicroATX, VIA KM400 Chipset

The CPU runs at 1.3V set in BIOS. I use the Cool'N'Quit feature of CrystalCPUID with 3 multipliers (7.5x in idle, 10.5x, 13.5x on load).

thats very nice. My a7n8x-e crashes when trying to set the multiplier in CrystalCPUID.

Now that were talking about it (somewhat off topic, since we're kind of hijacking MrSensitive's topic). Probably the best (low cost) htpc mainboard I bought must be the k7s7ag. I put a 2500+ athlon XP (non mobile . It has onboard graphics (sis xabre 200) with 64MB onboard memory and is directx 8.1 (but on the supported list of mediaportal). It's running brilliantly with cpuidle. Cpuidle executes the halt instruction and with normal computing (didn't try mp yet) temperature stays below 30 degrees. Who needs a mobile cpu with those temps??? And best of all: the price was an amazing 33 euros! And it included a cardreader for that money too! Still can't believe it.

 

[Wally]

Just to let you know!

For the moment I'm fiddling around with the software (MP) on my normal PC to get acquainted with it. So far I didn't got the playback of DVD's or AVI files correct. (jerky)

I downloaded (and intalled,....ofcoarse) the latest NVidia drivers and now the plaback of my movies is normal.
Sometimes it can be so simple. :wink:

Cheers