Pentium M in desktop computers

 Couple of days ago I got my hands on a very nice piece of hardware - DFI's microATX mainboard 915GM-MIGF/G. It is based on Intel 915GM mobile chipset found usually in second generation Centrino notebooks (codename Sonoma) and is one of the few desktop mainboards capable of running mobile Celeron and Pentium M CPU's. Offers integrated GMA900 graphics chip and 8-channel audio that are good enough for office use and even some older games, has both analog and digital output for multi-monitor support, and one full speed PCIe 16x slot for powerful additional graphics card. And as most of DFI's products it offers great overclockability.

Although the retail prices of Pentium M CPU's are still ridiculously high, thanks to eBay I was able to buy two used pieces for fragment of the original cost. Model 730 (1.7GHz/2MB L2) for $60 (retail price $470), model 725 (1.6GHz/2MB L2) for $50 (retail $340). Both CPU's were pulled from dead laptops, are working perfectly and overclock like crazy. The more powerful model I used in my aging notebook to replace Celeron M CPU.

These are results  of my overclocking attempts:
Intel Celeron M 350 (1.3GHz/1MB L2) - at 1.73GHz (13x 133MHz FSB) on default 1.26V
Intel Pentium M 725 (1.6GHz/2MB L2) - at 2.4GHz (16x 150MHz FSB) on 1.504V (default 1.340V)

The only 'flaws' I found so far are the single channel memory controller (chipset supports single channel DDR and dual channel DDR2, but this mainboard has only two DDR slots), and lack of support for 64-bit applications - this is not really big issue, considering the target market of this board.

On the other hand, the power consumption of the whole system is much lower than today's high end graphic cards alone (especially the hyped and not yet released AMD/ATI's R600 with it's 240W). Even when overclocked by 50%, all the CPU needs is just passive heatsink similar to the ones found on northbridges and properly ventilated case (using two slow spining fans, 12cm intake and 8cm exhaust). The resulting computer is very quiet and powerful.

Thank you Intel for such nice piece of silicon!