Im looking to upgrade my younger sisters PC to make it an uber low power rig.
The main thing I'm after is that its fast enough for generally office, web browsing, DVD, DIVX and unrealtournament (the classic ). It will most likely be hooked up to a 17'' TFT (LG1710B - DVI/RGB) or I may get her a 19/20'' widescreen...
Ive successfull build my youngest sister a Sempron 3gig paired with a Asus 6150/430 matx mobo (the onboard GFX is absolutely fine for 1440x900 for UT, and Asus Q-fan is uber cool) and a gig of DDR2 667 RAM. Only fans ive got are the PSU which is silent, and the CPU which is usually running min speed through Q-fan all housed in a Aopen mATX slim case.
For this new build I was hoping to go completely passive on the CPU with the only fan in the PSU.
My question is, should I go for a:
* Dothan (lowest power consumption?, but hard to come across cheap boards and CPUs... best speed/power consumption ratio?)
* Sempron (worked well before with a 6150 mobo... wondering how the sempron X2 3600 will fair)
* C2D 4300 (lower power cons. than 6300, but will it be possible to underclock and get it to run on 30W? How much for a mobo that it is a good underclocker?)
* C2D 6300 (as above, but uses more power at stock... how underclockable are these?)
As its stands, the Sempron seems to be the most economical choice with a CPU + mobo combo costing in the region of £70... but what say you?