[luau] Underclocking

[R. Scott Belford]

>
> *Via C3 - says it needs a fan, but apparently they were designed to be
> used with a heatsink only

This is an intriguing chip that I came across a few weeks ago in my search to 
build the coolest possible POS box.  I like it very much and will be testing 
it alongside of a few celerons.  Maybe I will try it without a fan.

> I've seen numerous Pentium IIs and some Pentium IIIs running with
> just a heatsink and using fan ducting to blow air across it.

My favorite two boxes use an older slot PII and Celeron.  The Celeron runs 
fanless, 24/7, in a debian box.  It's got a decent graphics card and is good 
enough for the rare Xwindows browsing and emailing.  Very cool box that has 
run for a few years (touchwood) straight here in humid Hawaii.  The PII box 
has run just as long, but it does have a CPU fan.  Both use the 440BX chipset.

The registers across the island that never give me any trouble after years of 
continuous and poorly ventiliated service are based on the Intel 440BX 
chipset.  Aopen still sells what may have been its greatest motherboard with 
this chipset

http://www.aopen.com/products/mb/ax6bcproii(m).htm

I have opened cases to find pounds of dust, a stalled cpu fan on the PII 350, 
but stable performance nonetheless.  This can be the platform for a cheap, 
stable, and maybe even fanless desktop if it is silence that you seek from 
your computer.  I know that you are working with an Athlon and and Asus 
mboard already, so this may not be very relevant.  I love these older 
motherboards so much, though, that I had to share my measly $.02.

scott


> especially if your PSU blows
> hot air inward (as reccomended by the ATX spec) rather than outward
> (what most PSUs do in white boxes).  

I didn't know that was the spec.  It completely defies the logic of 
facilitating the escape of the already rising hot air by blowing outward.  I 
usually add a few case fans to blow inward and help force the hot air out the 
top through the PS.  Perhaps I should re-think this.  Very interesting.