On 27 May, 14:21, johannes wrote:
" wrote:

On 26 May, 11:10, johannes wrote:
" wrote:

where can i buy a pentium M MBRD? ...

i'd like it to be new

and i'd like it to take the ULV pentium m processors. infact, where
can i buy them ? !

my aim is no fans. It's possible to get a small passive cooler for
the pentium m ulv processors. Another thing that may need cooling are
voltage regulators on the mbrd, and non active HSFs won't do that.
But maybe boards designed for ULVs are designed to run fine with
passive heatsinks without the voltage regulators overheating.

You would still need ventilation for the hard drive though, even more
so if there is little or no fan activity for the CPU.

Which motherboard format do you want? I have build one with a DFI
mboard (mini-itx), and it's very nice and quiet for internet surfing.
But you can also get ATX boards for this CPU e.g. AOpen.

Beware, that coolers are different formats and doesn't necessarily
fit your motherboard; it's not just a socket 479 cooler. Check
the screw hole distances. Hence I ended up with a redundant cooler
for an Aopen (54mm) :-(

thanks for the warning!

i'm interested in atx.. or mini itx . Though only the mini itx if it
fits in an atx case. Would the screwholes match?

I build mine (about 18 month ago) into an old AT flip top case, which I've
had since my first 286 PC.

I kept mine! Was a 386 16Mhz ! But even an AT case is far bigger than
the board, surely! And outside a case, my old VIA MBRD ran fine
without a fan.. If it were in a case it'd need a fan. I could flip
up the top of the case, but then it'd be a bit messy, and a monitor
couldn't go on top.



That needed a lot of cutting on the backplane.
Fitting it into an ATX case would probably be much easier. But then why
not simply use an ATX board?


AT cases are quite big. Would it really take that much more cutting to
get an ATX board in there?!

And hey, if you're gonna take the back off, why not cut a bit off the
sides too!!


In 2003,
I wasn't aware of low wattage e.g. ULV processors e.g. some intel
celerons (according to wikipedia celeron list). (the old ones, pre
celeron mobile, had ULV). I guess you could've put a passive heatsink
on one of those. If one could find one !!!

There were no massive heatsinks at that time. It was only later that
you got large ones that'd cool a p4 northwood.

The only way I knew to get a CPU without a heatsink was to use a MBRD
with the VIA chipset (e.g. from linitx).. Those have a VIA processor
with a little passive heatsink effectively glued on.

Those only came in mini itx.

I didn't care about the size.. Just the noise. So I could've put it in
an atx case.

I didn't. Why put it in any case when it can fit in my draw !!!!!!

And that applies nowadays too..

Lazyness is another reason.
But if putting it in a case, i'd put it an either an atx or a mini
itx, whichever is less hassle ! If I had an atx case with a
motherboard tray, i'd use that! (i'm assuming all the holes are in
the right place to fit a mini itx board in an atx case).. So, depends
on the cases.

Another reason for getting an atx board or a mini itx board
arbtirarily, and even putting a mini itx board in an atx case.. is
just 'cos it's quite easy now to get things off ebay! Sometimes I
can't be bothered to enter my address and payment details at a site.
snip
The computer is used as my internet front, shielding the back end P4
computer, both using same monitor, keyboard and mouse via KVM.-

using it as a router and firewall?

The thing that puts me off doing that is it's just another obstacle
that could fail. (I guess it's hooked up to a modem).. What if its
ethernet card goes down, or its MBRD goes down. I can't access the
internet. I've got to open it up. It takes effort, and boring time,
and more spare parts , which is more money, too.

At least with my router-modem, i've got one device that can fail,
which connects computers to the internet. And when that goes down
it's bad enough. I bought 2, waiting for the day !! And i've got a 56k
modem as backup, to reduce the misery.