Via C3 cpu

[DerUber]

For all of you nay sayers

VIA C3 cpu works fine and plays DVDs and Divx movies without skipping any frames on my computer.

At 800mhz the chip allows me to play half-life mods at 75 to 90 FPS in 800x600 resolution.

here is my setup

Gigabyte GA-6PMM
VIA C3- 800mhz
ATI half size Radeon 7000 with s-vid out
256 MB sdram pc 133
micro ATX case with 180 watt ps
DVD drive 8x
20 gig maxtor drive
10/100 realtek NIC
Windows xp
winDVD, windows media player 7

all works fine with only one fan (on the PS)
the temps in case are 30 degree C while the cpu runs at balmy 45-55 degree C

no lost frames no hangups it just works and did I say it is very quiet (no earplugs needed while computing)

C3 is ideed a good solution for a top set box

 

[HolyGrenade]

The C3 is pretty popular for making flex-atx systems for the living room that plays divX and other movies on the TV. Well, I know two people that do that. So I'll call it popular.

It is also kinda popular as mp3 servers, and home-office comps.

<b><font color=red>I'm a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up.</font color=red></b>

 

[Dinski]

OK, but just for the idea - why don't you put in the FCPGA a Celeron@800MHz? If your mobo is not with FCPGA but with PPGA, put in a Celeron@533. Then start an application and you'll see...
Of course, for word processing, your Via might be a bit faster than Cel533...
This is just a suggestion, u know

<font color=orange>ÃÎËßÌ ÇÀËÚÊ ËÀÏÍÈ, ÃÎËßÌÀ ÙÀÍÃÀ ÂÄÈÃÍÈ!</font color=orange>

 

[HolyGrenade]

Do those celerons run with no fans in the case, except the one psu fan. These 145watt powersupplies run with tiny silent fans.

<b><font color=red>I'm a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up.</font color=red></b>

 

[BuddyAtBzboyz]

I must admit I'm kinda fond of the c3 but I would not grab one myself till they reach at least 1.5ghz (hopefully by that time with a larger cache)!

 

[Quetzacoatl]

I think they need to rename it the Via C4, with explosive performance, and 1mb of L2 cache. Then I would consider it over a Celeron. Till then, Duron/Celeron all the way.

"When there's a will, there's a way."

 

[BuddyAtBzboyz]

well the c3 does have its advantages such as micro-itx board (really small) and passive cooling (ie quiet).

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Of course either a Transmeta Crusoe or an Intel Mobile Ultra-Low-Voltage Celeron will kick the tar out of a VIA C3 in both power use and thermal output. (And the lower the thermal output, the less noisy the cooling needs to be.)

So VIA's C3 has a somewhat pathetic performance, uses more voltage than any of its low-power/heat competition, puts out more heat than any of its low-power/heat competition, and requires a stronger cooling solution than any of its low-power/heat competition.

Basically, VIA nails the low power/heat market sector just as solidly as they nail the performance sector.

<A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/171.htm" target="_new">The corpse you find may be your own.</A> - Black Mage

 

[slvr_phoenix]

This is probably a stupid question, but how do you check your FPS in HL and HL mods anyway? I want to see how my Celeron 500 with 256mb PC66 RAM and a Savage4 PCI video card does.

<A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/171.htm" target="_new">The corpse you find may be your own.</A> - Black Mage

 

[Quetzacoatl]

FRAPS

program that shows the FPS of many (imho) Direct3d and OpenGL games

"When there's a will, there's a way."

 

[DSutcliffe]

You can also measure in game by typing fps in the console or "netgraph 3" in the console.

Check out my rig:
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=3737" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=3737</A>

 

[eden]

And netgraph 0 to remove the FPS. Also, Netgraph 1 or 2 show a more detailed FPS and graphic overview of the network lag, but netgraph 3 is prefered.
Mine is capped at 72 though, but it doesn't mean it isn't higher.

--
The sound of determination is the echo of will...

 

[BuddyAtBzboyz]

Won't do very well I imagine but heck for half life it doesn't really need to be top of the line. Thats the good thing about old games you don't need a geforece 3 or a radeon 8500 to play them

 

[crow_smiling]

I ran a Celeron 600 (Coppermine) with a mid-size heatsink, arctic silver thermal paste and no fan for over a year with no problems. I did use an Abit board that allowed me to drop the voltage to 1.3V which helped.

Should be no problem to run a Celeron 1.0A (Tualatin) with a top range heat-sink and thermal paste without a fan also especially if you drop the voltage. Get a heat-sink that supports 80 mm fans and if it’s not running cool enough for you drop a 1,500 rpm Papst fan on there for very very quiet operation. The CPU fan will be a lot quieter than almost any PS fan.
I’m using one of those fans on a P4 1.6A (@1.15V) and the CPU runs cool enough and also I don’t even need a loud system or PS fan so the whole system really is whisper quiet. The monitor buzz is more noticeable than the system noise.
I live in a coldish climate otherwise I’d probably have used a Tualatin for my quiet rig because I’d need more air throughput to cool the case.

Crow

 

[slvr_phoenix]

That's very true about old software not needing much for minimum requirements. I first played HL on a P133 with 128MB of EDO RAM and a Diamond Viper 330 PCI video card. It wasn't the fastest and I had to run it in software mode (instead of hardware accelerated through OGL or DX), but it ran.

<A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/171.htm" target="_new">The corpse you find may be your own.</A> - Black Mage

 

[HolyGrenade]

How can you say the C3 would be noisier, when it needs no fan? Last time I checked, the piece of metal that is the heatsink makes no noise. Besides its heat dissapation isn't high. Compared to ULV mobile celerons it won't be that bad considering its a desktop CPU.

Also, How cheap are the ULV mobile celerons and mobo's to fit?

<b><font color=red>I'm a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up.</font color=red></b>

 

[slvr_phoenix]

How can you say the C3 would be noisier, when it needs no fan?

I <i>didn't</i> say that the C3 would be noiser. I said "<font color=green>the lower the thermal output, the less noisy the cooling needs to be</font color=green>". No where did I actually state that the C3 requires louder cooling. Obviously if it's cool enough to use passive cooling then that's that. (Though I could get technical and point out that if it needed even less cooling, you could even trim down the power supply fan's RPMs to run even quieter.)

While we're on the topic of low-noise small-size set-top boxes though, why not also mention the <A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/02q3/020710/index.html" target="_new">Shuttle mini PC bare-bones boxes</A>? They use a heat pipe to passively cool an <b>Athlon</b>! That's performance that'd put any of those low-power chips to shame at virtually the same size and noise level. Pick out a nice low-end Thoroughbred that has a low thermal output and you could probably run Toast for 24 hours straight without a lockup. (Of course, not having any of this hardware, I can't verify this.)

Compared to ULV mobile celerons it won't be that bad considering its a desktop CPU.

True enough, but then if you're looking to build a compact PC as a set-top box, obviously the mobile market is a MUCH better place to look than the desktop market since they have size and heat limitations down to a science.

Also, How cheap are the ULV mobile celerons and mobo's to fit?

**really big shrug** Beats me. How cheap is a Transmeta Crusoe solution? I have no idea. Nor do I really care. VIA may very well be cheaper.

One thing I do know for certain though is that when you buy VIA, you get what you pay for.

<A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/171.htm" target="_new">The corpse you find may be your own.</A> - Black Mage

 

[HolyGrenade]

I know, a while ago I made a via c3 800 on a flexATX board with 145watt PSU. All for around £250-270, can't remember. I thought I'll use that as my web surfing and documentation work. The case I baught looked really metallic in the picture (I think it was a suntek case), but looked really plasticy and takky to me when I baught it. I used it none the less. Still a slick design though. I did a divx encoding over some 50 hours, all without heatsinks. never went above 45~50 degrees.

Someone else saw it, liked it, baught it. I even made a profit. I'll probably do this all over again when the next gen VIA chip comes out. Can't bare the thought that I'm wasting hundreds of watts of electricity just for web browsing or just leaving the comp idle.

The C3 did seem substantially cheap compared to celerons and durons.



<b><font color=red>I'm a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up.</font color=red></b>

 

[BuddyAtBzboyz]

"While we're on the topic of low-noise small-size set-top boxes though, why not also mention the Shuttle mini PC bare-bones boxes? They use a heat pipe to passively cool an Athlon! That's performance that'd put any of those low-power chips to shame at virtually the same size and noise level. Pick out a nice low-end Thoroughbred that has a low thermal output and you could probably run Toast for 24 hours straight without a lockup. (Of course, not having any of this hardware, I can't verify this.)"

1) It doesn't use passive cooling. There is a 80mm fan on the heatsink at the end of the heat pipe.

2) Its not as small as a c3 solution. Shuttle mini cases use a mini atx motherboard. C3s can use a mini itx motherboard. Mini itx is smaller and is made by via. I haven't heard of them making any mini itx boards for any chip other then the c3.

3) yes I agree the mini shuttle system would outperform the c3 in every way. Yet it costs a hell of a lot more.

4) face it not everybody needs more performance then the c3 can offer. It is a innovative product and has some great potential. Get over it

5) No I don't work for Via