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Re: VIA CPU's



On Thu, 2003-08-28 at 05:28, Tom Allison wrote:
> Ron Johnson wrote:
> > On Wed, 2003-08-27 at 21:06, Tom Allison wrote:
> > 
> >>I am getting really curious about these new Via CPU's that work on the 
> >>micro-ITX systems.  I especially like the idea that I can get a very 
> >>functional machine with only 30W.
> > 
> > On the other hand, my 1GHz Athlon plays FPS games well, but sounds
> > like a Boeing 737 is parked 2.5m from my head.
> > 
> > So, what's important to you?  Speed or silence?
> > 
> 
> 
> > 
> > Try 3W, not 30W.
> > 
> > 
> >>But I'm just wondering if this is a little too good to be true.  Can I really 
> >>get a reasonably functional machine from these machines?
> > 
> > 
> > The primary design goal of these x86 CPUs is low power usage.  In
> > fact, they just released a *passively cooled* 733MHz CPU.
> > 
> > To obtain this goal, though, the sacrificed speed.  Floating point
> > execution is particularly dreadful.  So, you won't be playing any
> > 1st person shooters...
> > 
> 
> Maybe not first person shooters, but the dynamic content on webpages (java 
> applets and macromedia) is desired by many of my subjects..er.. I mean 
> users... and I wouldn't want that to suffer.
> 
> My other application is primarily as a web/email server with some cool web 
> stuff.  I'm thinking the core software elements would be postfix, 
> spamassassin (spamd/spamc), procmail, postgresql, html::Mason, PHP, 
> squirrelmail...  All along that thread of a low volume (unless I get 
> slashdotted) web/mail server for home use and to play with while I figure out 
> more cool things to do with web pages and email.
> 
> Currently I am using an Athlon K7 (700MHz) with 768MB RAM and a 20GB HDD for 
> my web/email server.  This is very sufficient for anything that I've been 
> doing to date (which isn't much) and would be tickled pink if I could get a 
> Via machine that would be able to perform as a server with the same performance.
> 
> What are my chances?

Well, you could get a slow C3 (the Via CPU in question), 64MB RAM,
nVIDIA Riva TNT, bootable NIC, minimal X, put your K7 in the closet,
network the 2 machines, and run tightvnc, so that the heavy lifting
is done by the box in the closet, where it's kept quiet.

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Johnson, Jr. ron.l.johnson@cox.net
Jefferson, LA USA

"...always eager to extend a friendly claw"



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