There's been a lot of reporting going on about the Mobile Athlon XP's the past couple of months. Everybody showing their results seem to be using some rather expensive cooling. Today I'd like to take a little more of look at the "value" of these processors. I refuse to use loud fans in any of my systems. I have started taking measures to reduce as much noise as possible from my systems. That is why I decided to use a mobile processor!

Some other reasons to make this worth the added cost is the unlocked multiplier! I had to buy it for RAM testing.

Do you need any more value than reaching 2.3-2.5Ghz?
I'm going to say YES! Having to use expensive cooling takes a lot away from the value. Today I'm using the retail heatsink that came with my retail Athlon XP 2500+. This represents a "free" cooler. Something that was sitting on the shelf never to be used again! It takes 1.825v to stabilize my desktop 2500+ at 2.2Ghz which is far more heat than the retail heatsink can handle.

As of the April CPU Price Guide there was only a $17 difference between the normal Athlon XP 2600+ and the mobile 2600+. I spent $30 on a cooler for my 2500. Being able to use a cheap cooler balances the costs out. The chip I purchased is from NewEgg.

Here's some more you might want to check out:
http://www.geekextreme.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=38&page=2
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Features/XP-M/
http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD03MjI
http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2004q1/athlonxp-m-2500/index.x?pg=1