I'm doing research for computer parts, before building a PC, and I'm seeing that a lot of people are putting mobile processors in desktop (ATX) motherboards.
For example, this Abit motherboard I"m considering has several reviews from people using mobile processors.
So what's the deal? Why use the mobile, are they cheaper, I'd imagine they don't give as good performance, or do they?
Help a guy out.
Perhaps they are not as power hungry as regular desktop processors.
I've never heard of that, but my guess as to why has to do with overclocking. The mobile procs likely run much cooler, and thus are more akin to overclocking. I don't see why power draw would really be an issue--in a desktop machine, you can throw all the power you want to a proc. In a battery-powered environment, though, you can't.
Doc Dub's right on that one. For overclockers, the mobile AXPs are a godsend. A desktop Barton 2500 will usually hit the wall at around 2.2GHz on standard cooling, etc., while the mobile 2500 usually goes up to around 2.5GHz, and some have seen much higher speeds.
Another advantage to overclockers in the mobile chips, is the unlocked multiplier. AMD started locking up the desktop chips around new year's, I believe.
Yes the in almost all of the new processors of AMD are locked for overclocking.They could be unlocked by connecting the exact jumpers on the processors top.(these jumpers look like a lot of metal dots) when you connect the exact jumpers by soldering the exact two dots ,or painting them with copper or silver "paint" you could :
CASE 1 - Have a fully overclockable CPU
CASE 2 - Destroy the processor and suicide yourself
However this is the only way to unlock a CPU of AMD
Intel also started locking their processors.
Now the most easy way to overclock a locked CPU is by changing the frequency of the motherboard.
Another advantage to the mobile Athlons stems from the low power consumption low heat output. This is ideal for a Home Theater PC in that it takes a smaller quieter heat sink fan to cool the thing, making for a quieter overall box.
OK, so if I go with, for example, a barton 2000+ mobile processor and overclock it will it provide the same computational "punch" as a desktop barton 2000+ overclocked to the same speed? Will there be any difference in game play? That's why I'm building this pc, it's to play the newest games.
I've heard that the new processors for laptops are more fast than the normal processors.That on slower frequencys they are executing the instruction as fast as the normal processors on higher Ghz's.If this is right your mobile processor on 2Ghz should run faster in performance than the standart 2Ghz processor.
The Barton Cored AMD Athlon XP 2500+ is a king amongst processor overclocking some people have managed to overclock to 2.7 Ghz, that’s a 1066 Mhz overclock. The custom machine im building is going to contain one.
here’s a record of them: http://www.cpudatabase.com/CPUdb/Showamd.cfm
(EDIT) Here’s Good Info On It: http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2004q1/athlonxp-m-2500/index.x?pg=1
People are also using the mobile variants of the Athlon 64 desktops. The differences between a desktop and a mobile Athlon 64 are more profound. The mobile Athlon 64's all have a 1 MB of L2 cache while the desktop Athlon 64's have 512 KB or 1 MB of L2 cache. To synchronize the rating number the the mobile line, desktop processors with 512 KB of cache are clocked higher. The mobile Athlon 64's lack the intergrated heat spreader which is welcomed by some overclockers.