CPUIdle causes performance degradation... I run F@H(Folding@Home) 24/7. I tried CPUIdle for about 5 minutes but then i realised that i was crunching a lot less than i used to. Tested this with a Distributed.Net crunch benchmark and true enough i was doing a **** load less.
Did a Ctrl+Shift+Esc... There i see CPUIdle eating up 54% of my idle processes. Yay for limiting the amount of calculations my cpu can do. If i wanted to cool it down that way i'd just turn off F@H. (Yay... a software version of the P4)
Small fraction my left nut... A slight underclock will not greatly reduce your temperatures... if your running at 50 (the P4's seem to kick in around then) it has to underclock (burst technology as they call it) so that the max amount of cpu cycles is reduced thus reducing its workload and cooling it down.
While this might be a useful technique... You paying an exorbitant price for a processor that is easily matched by an AthlonXP. The tradeoff for a cheaper chip is that you need to invest a tad more on a decent HSF.
I'm currently running the HHC-001 (the copper heatsink with the heat pipes by CoolerMaster) with a fandaptored 80mm Sunon to reduce noise and guess what... High 40's full load. My case airflow ain't that great... 1 at front 1 at back... so this is decent for what i paid for it. (about $70 Australian so halve it for US and 1/3(?) it for pounds) why do you guys have the stronger currency???
Now... i paid $189 for the AthlonXP 1900+.... $70 for the HSF... $20 for the fandaptor + fan.
Thats only $279... Whereas a P4 1.9 costs $365 and the XP 1900+ STILL outperforms it. go figure...
Lets pay for the brand name people =)
The quad pumped P4 loses to the double pumped AthlonXP... heh...