Pentium M 478 Chips and Motherboards

[knightrous]

Hi All,

I'm looking at building a compact file server after having a nasty crash on the weekend and losing 140GB of data

Here my basic scope:

- Has to be physically small
- Has to run cool n quiet (Not the AMD technology )
- Has to run 24/7
- Has to handle a Raid array consisting of 250GB IDE drives
- Has to be reliable
- Has to be built on the cheap
- Has to have reasonable performance


Now I looked at the noise/temp/physical size factor and I believe a Pentium M 478 chip would be great to solve these issues. I've been watching Ebay for some cheap P4 M chips and possibly even some P3 M chips.

What I would like to ask this wonderful community is for a bit o advice towards which motherboard would be suitable/compatible with running a raid array and accepting the P4M chip. Do I require an adaptor for this chip? Bios updates? Specific heatsink requirements?

Thanks in advance 8)


EDIT: The AOpen I855GMe-LFS motherboard was reviewed by THG for use with P4M chips on the desktop. I also found that the P4M's are S479.... :?

 

[Scougs]

You don't want P4 M you just want the Pentium M. Dothan core is the best. You can probably pick up a 1.6GHz 533fsb Dothan for around $70-80 Shipped on ebay. The motherboard would either have to be the ASUS with a socket adapter or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130539

Not sure if this board has integrated RAID but since you just need it as a file server you could probably use software RAID.

 

[angry_ducky]

From the requirements that you posted, I think that you should get an Intel Core Duo (not to be confused with the Core 2 Duo desktop chip). The Core Duo is basically a dual-core Pentium M, so it runs fast, cool, and uses very little power.

Even though it's a laptop chip, there are some socket 479 motherboards available for the desktop. I just checked newegg, and I found the AOpen i975Xa-YDG. It's expensive as hell ($260!), but it has everything you need and more, including 4 DDR2 slots (up to 4GB RAM), 2 PCIe x16 slots (supports Crossfire), and 3 PATA connectors. However, it's a full-sized ATX motherboard, and I'm not sure if it will fit into a Micro-ATX case.

I also found the ASUS N4L-VM DH. It's a lot cheaper ($139), but it only has 1 PATA connector supporting up to 2 PATA devices.

The cheapest Core Duo, the 1.66GHz T2300 is $246, but I'd get the 1.83GHz T2400 because it's only $11 more.

2GB of DDR2 667 RAM will run you $150+, and I'd get a cheapo PCIe video card (Passive cooled Radeon X1300: $54 just to take the extra load off of the CPU.

Everything that I've mentioned so far comes to a total of around $750, but you'll still need a case and power supply. All in all, it might end up costing you more than $1000. If that breaks your budget, you should look into a build with a socket AM2 Sempron.

P.S. I hope this post helped you; it took me 30 minutes to write.

 

[kukito]

Have you considered Yonah? Asus has a RAID supporting mATX motherboard for Yonah. The Core Solo is a bit expensive, tho. How about Turion 64? There are many mATX boards for socket 754 with SATA and some will work with Turion 64. You'd also be able to run a 64 bit OS.

Just some thoughts.

 

[knightrous]

I wanted to avoid the costs by staying back a generation or two in processors. This file server won't be doing much, it will just be sitting in the corner, waiting to have infomation saved and retrieved off it via the network.

I'm sure an old 800mhz P3M would handle this fine, but i'm guessing getting a mobo for them with raid will be a needle in a hay stack I really want to avoid buying anything new. Most parts will be sourced from Ebay and on the cheap.

I've been looking at some chips like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&item=160013427747&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1
and this:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=015&item=250013385024&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

The last one ays S478, which confuses me because P4M is suppose to be S479...

My budget is..... the cheaper, the better 8) Keep the advice and opinions coming please, ever post helps

 

[MU_Engineer]

The Pentium 4-M is a socket 478 chip based on the Northwood A desktop chip. It's a 130nm chip with 512K L2 cache, 35W TDP, a 400 MHz FSB, and a Vcore of 1.30 V at full speed and 1.20 V at 1.2 GHz (the lower speed in all P4-Ms.) It will run on an 845 chipset or better, but the BIOS must recognize the CPU as a P4-M as its Vcore is a lot lower than a desktop Northwood A. Speeds range from 1.3 to 2.6 GHz. I have a 2.2 GHz P4-M based laptop.

The Pentium 3-M is a socket 378 chip with SpeedStep. I think they are mostly 180nm Coppermines, not sure.

The Pentium M is a socket 479 unit based on the PIII Tualatin and has 3 variants:
1. Banias: original Pentium M, 130nm, 1MB L2, speeds from 1.3 to 1.7 GHz, 400 MHz FSB. No numerical model rating.
2. Dothan: 90nm, 2MB L2, 400 MHz FSB, speeds from 1.1 to 2.1 GHz, model numbers are of the form 7x5, with 765 being the 2.1 GHz. Has SSE3.
3. Dothan 533: 90nm, 2MB L2, 533 MHz FSB, speeds from 1.6 to 2.26 GHz, model numbers are of the form 7x0, 2.26 GHz is a 770. Has SSE3.

You need an 855 chipset to run the Pentium M Banias and Dothan 400, and a 915 or better to run the Dothan 533.

 

[Scougs]

Dothan's seem to also come in socket 478.
My laptop has a Dothan and is a socket 478.

knightrous,
You seem to be unaware of the fact that there is a Pentium M and a Pentium 4-M.

The Pentium M is designed specifically with low power in mind.
The Pentium 4-M is older and is a modified version of the desktop chips.

Since you want RAID, low power, and you don't care about graphics. I'm thinking that a setup something like this might be good:


Socket Adapter
CPU
This CPU is the first generation Pentium M. It is much better than a 1.4GHz Pentium 4 would be yet uses less power.

Take your pick of the motherboards that are compatible with the socket adapter.

 

[knightrous]

Thanks MU. That brings me a bit closer to understanding the moble processor line.

I'd like to stick with the older P4M with S478 as it's easy to pick up a small m-ATX mobo on Ebay for $20... Does anyone here happen to run a P4M proc on a 478 desktop board? Looking for a pointer towards which older mobos will work with a bios update.


EDIT: Thanks also Scougs. I'm just digging into more about the P-M's now.

 

[Scougs]

If you run a Pentium 4-M in a board with a desktop chipset, I've heard that you will be stuck with the lowest multiplier-something like 12 maybe. Of course, that might not matter in your case since performance isn't important.

Also, in case you didn't notice I put a couple of links in my previous post.

 

[Scougs]

3. Dothan 533: 90nm, 2MB L2, 533 MHz FSB, speeds from 1.6 to 2.26 GHz, model numbers are of the form 7x0, 2.26 GHz is a 770. Has SSE3.

I noticed a small error in your post.
The 770 model is 2.13GHz.
The 780 is the 2.26GHz model.

 

[knightrous]

If the processor is underclocked to a lower multiplier, i wouldn't worry me too much. As long as it sends and saves the data when I want it

I'm going to go read the THG NAS articles now. Just to see it from the professional side. Pentium M sounds good though

 

[umala]

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17604176. I have similar query.

 

[Scougs]

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17604176. I have similar query.

I believe that you are asking whether the Pentium M is socket 478 or 479.

I just did a little looking around on the internet and I think that I now understand what the confusion is all about. It appears that the Pentium M actually has 478 physical pins. However, the pinout is different from the 478 desktop socket so the new socket has been called socket-479.

 

[Burnsie]

It really won't matter what P4 you stick in there. It's just a file server. You are only going to be held back by whatever your network is. We have a PIII file server and a max 100MBs network and the thing cranks out files. Don't worry too much about the speed, just concentrate on the low power consumption if that is what you are looking for.