Via C7 CPU

[Stead]

hrmm, as much as i love the performance of my computer so i can be geeky and play games, I'd love to have a low power low noise computer for the living room, not for tv, or anything, just normal use, even to play a game on now and then what i ahve now, worked, until 2 days ago, seems to of died completly, as its an old PIII slot 1 chip i feel it will have to be replaced mobo n everything anyway memory, video card, so i've been trying to find a c7 chip, now i can buy a mobo and chip for £200 odd, but i do'nt want that, i want a normal motherboad, with pci express or agp something more than pci.

Has anyone seen a 'normal' ie, micro atx, or full size, not a mini or nano board, or has anyone seen the cpu on its own? I was convinced for along time this cpu is what i want to try, however I feel like i am unable to, i've spent most of my free time in the last week trying to find one! I was also excited when i read it will work with intel chipsets, however, no cpu anyware! I really can't justify spending £200 on the bundled chip n board, especially considering it doesn't have an agp port

Has anyone used one of these processors? from what i can tell from reading, for normal usage you cannot tell they are slower?

[puntoMX]

The C7 will provide better performance then a PIII, consider it a PIV at 1GHz with some extra features.

There are some brands that sell uATX board with the chip mounted to it. In general those are the less-good brands like PC-Chips, for example the V21G (V1.0C).

EDIT: Why don’t you go for a Sempron64 754 or AM2 with a nVidia 6100 chipset?

Edited November 22, 2006 by puntoMX

[Stead]

the reason i was interested in the Via c7 cpu was due to the power usage, I wanted to build a low power pc, I've also been lookingat the amd Geode NX cpu, howevet the price of the c7 i find appealing, at least, the low cost ones, that board you mentioned seems to retail for $70 new in america, however I can't find a single C7 board in the uk with those features, and the ones i can find only have one pci slot and cost in between £140-200.

another reason for wanting to try via, is that i'm curious to how it performs, and the security engine in the via chip seems appealing, wanted to see if i could find anysoftware that actually makes use of it!

Out of interested, are there any other processors that are x86 and low power, which could handle a demanding (ie windows) os?

[puntoMX]

Out of interested, are there any other processors that are x86 and low power, which could handle a demanding (ie windows) os?

VIA is the king in the retail market.

I’m sure they sell PC-Chips motherboards in the UK, get it close to you, not from the USA because PC-Chips has a lot of RMAs or even DOAs.

[Stead]

I've found places that sell pc chips motherboards, but haven't found any that sell the VIA bundle

thanks anyways, i'll keep looking out for them tho!

[Jaqie Fox]

Check out the turion64. they have versions with a 25 watt power celing. If you want a PC for general use that is capable of being built passive cooled or near-passive, go for a turion64.

[puntoMX]

Could be an option indeed; S754, only problem is to find a desktop motherboard that supports the Turion64.

[Jaqie Fox]

Albatron makes a mini ITX board that takes them, along with a couple micro ATX ones that do IIRC.

[-I-]

i have some of them (but no apg onboard though,

specs - pcchips mobo - 2x pci - sound vga lan (onboard), via 2000+ cpu,

didn't actualy check the exact cpu speed though,

i live in holland, (so shipping will not be to expansive) ...

just pm me if your interested -

Edited December 5, 2006 by -I-

[pepoluan]

Hmmm... IIRC... haven't AMD taken over VIA's CPUs?

[Jaqie Fox]

Hmmm... IIRC... haven't AMD taken over VIA's CPUs?

Correct. That is the dawn of the Geode project IIRC.

But IMHO the turion64 makes a much more promising solution to the OP's wishlist.

[pepoluan]

Hmmm... IIRC... haven't AMD taken over VIA's CPUs?

Correct. That is the dawn of the Geode project IIRC.

But IMHO the turion64 makes a much more promising solution to the OP's wishlist.

I agree. ****, I saw Acer's Ferrari 1000 laptop, a Turion64 X2-based system... it runs like crazy, yet still cold as hell...

[Stead]

as far as i'm aware the geode processor is stictly amd, nothing to do with via, just old athlon's that have been reworked for low power? I've built a system with the geode nx chip in before, socket a, i've noticed they've moved on to the newer socket, I personally was very impressed, board and chip £46 at the time, came with onboard video and sound, never tried running it without the fan,but replaced it with another and it has more than enough power to handle anything i tried on it, pitty I can't find another one

the turion 64 chips seem very good, and unlike the intel equivilant i notice they not only 64bit but feature SSE3 and 3Dnow, still I will hold off getting one of them as the price compared to the VIA chips is qutie a big difference, can't get over the fact on american sites i've found a c7 cpu plus motherboard for $60 with an agp slot, with an ATX board! (thats some £160 cheaper than ones i can find in this country that don't even have agp!)

It'll be till after christmas anyway, but thanks, I never knew about the turion64 chips, and it seems lots of motherboards will work with them! if anyone is interested the ATI express board seems to be the best board for running these chips from what i can gather, and they support cool n quiet, seems to be the only chipset that works with it properly? at least from what i can find out!

if i get more free cash i thin i'l invest in the turion, unless people start selling the c7's at reasonable prices in this country, and with a normal sized atx board!

I will at some point get a turion64 chip to experiment with, unless something better comes along

[Jaqie Fox]

their only shortcoming (the s754 versions) is a limitation of s754, single channel ram.

[MGadAllah]

VIA is the king in the retail market.

I think you must be the 1st one who may say so