Dothan vs. Turion

[zephyrprime]

Originally posted by: geforcetony
Dell's now using the nForce4 SLi Intel Edition for its XPS, and marks the first time, I believe in their history, that they've used non-Intel hardware .

Intel hasn't always made chipsets and MBs. Dell used to make their own MB like most manufacturers back in the old days.

 

[ironique]

Lovely review, true eye-opener. It seems the centrino platform is not all that it's hyped up to be in terms of performance (relative to the turion that is).

 

[Furen]

Originally posted by: Bona Fide

Well said, Viditor. Of course, this review was [imo] missing some key points such as overclocking and heat readings, but Turion has proven its worth in my eyes.

I remember reading (at xtremesystems, if my memory serves me right) that Turions overclock horribly. If true, this could be a side-effect of AMD using low-power transistors on Turions, rather than clockspeed-optimized ones.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: Furen

Originally posted by: Bona Fide

Well said, Viditor. Of course, this review was [imo] missing some key points such as overclocking and heat readings, but Turion has proven its worth in my eyes.

I remember reading (at xtremesystems, if my memory serves me right) that Turions overclock horribly. If true, this could be a side-effect of AMD using low-power transistors on Turions, rather than clockspeed-optimized ones.

I actually think that overclocking Turion is a fairly moot point.
It's important for the Pentium M, I agree...but only because overclocking the P4 can be a scary proposition.
With Turion, you really aren't going to overclock your actual laptop (none of the mobos are set up for it anyway in laptops), and why would you want one for the desktop when you have Venice, San Diego, and the X2?

 

[Pabster]

Yeah let's not start debating overclocking a laptop. That's pretty stupid to begin with. With the Pentium-M (and I assume the same for Turion) the clock generator will only allow adjusting the FSB (not the PCI frequency) so as you crank up your FSB you start pushing the PCI bus out of spec and there is no way to "lock" it. Frankly, it really is a waste of time.

Now if we're talking about o/cing the video just a little... OK

And speaking about either one of these CPUs as desktop chips is ludicrous, frankly. Although I suspect Turion would make a better one because it should be possible to run without a special adapter and have a wider selection of boards and chipsets to choose from.

 

[Furen]

Originally posted by: Pabster

And speaking about either one of these CPUs as desktop chips is ludicrous, frankly. Although I suspect Turion would make a better one because it should be possible to run without a special adapter and have a wider selection of boards and chipsets to choose from.

Hah, I'm personally not interested in OCing a laptop, I was just telling him the little I knew about Turions and OCing. Newarks are insanely good overclockers for socket 754 and so are Venices, San Diegos and X2s for socket 939. I dont think anyone will waste his time trying to OC a Turion especially since the alternatives are KNOWN to be good overclockers.

 

[fatty4ksu]

With the Yonah coming out, this comparision becomes irrelevant.

 

[Avalon]

Pabster, your last paragraph makes me wonder if anyone ever threw a Turion MT32 (1.8ghz, 25w) into a desktop s754 system before. Is it physically and electrically possible? The chip was $185 on eWiz a while ago. Would be fun to overclock.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: fatty4ksu
With the Yonah coming out, this comparision becomes irrelevant.

Until they start showing up for the masses to buy then we will consider that relative......Until then lets live in reality. I have always been consistent to never tell ppl to wait around the corner for the next technology, unless I had a more firm date...There is always something better and when the yonah shows up at lower speeds and perhaps doesn't gain the big lead per the higher cost what will you say next...wait for the next chip????

 

[Markfw]

Yes, When is Yonah coming out ? I haven;t heard anything definitive, so Yonah is irrelevant.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Avalon
Pabster, your last paragraph makes me wonder if anyone ever threw a Turion MT32 (1.8ghz, 25w) into a desktop s754 system before. Is it physically and electrically possible? The chip was $185 on eWiz a while ago. Would be fun to overclock.

I don't believe it is possible; I also wasn't aware Turion's were shipping as a retail box part?

The other thing to keep in mind here is that, even if it were possible, the benefits from using a 25W Turion (Lancaster) versus say a 50W Venice wouldn't be nearly as great as, say, a 30W Dothan compared to a 100W+ Prescott...

I'll have to look in to this a bit more.

 

[DarkKnight69]

This is the only review I have EVER seen that has a turion beat the Dothan in battery life...I expected the Turion to match/beat the dothan, same as Yonah will match/beat turion...Newer tech is usually victor on similar archetectures...

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: Avalon
Pabster, your last paragraph makes me wonder if anyone ever threw a Turion MT32 (1.8ghz, 25w) into a desktop s754 system before. Is it physically and electrically possible? The chip was $185 on eWiz a while ago. Would be fun to overclock.

I don't believe it is possible; I also wasn't aware Turion's were shipping as a retail box part?

The other thing to keep in mind here is that, even if it were possible, the benefits from using a 25W Turion (Lancaster) versus say a 50W Venice wouldn't be nearly as great as, say, a 30W Dothan compared to a 100W+ Prescott...

I'll have to look in to this a bit more.

It's shipping as an OEM part.
Text

Like i said, though. I don't know if it would be physically or electrically compatible with current s754 boards.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Avalon
It's shipping as an OEM part.
Text

Like i said, though. I don't know if it would be physically or electrically compatible with current s754 boards.

Hmmm.

Almost makes me want to grab one with a cheap-arse 754 board and see what comes of it...

 

[frostedflakes]

I've been using a Turion MT-34 in a DFI Lanparty UT nF3 250Gb for the last half a year or so. Works very well. With passive cooling, the processor stays at 39*C while folding.

But it should work in any board. It may be necessary to boot up with a desktop Athlon64 to update to a Turion-compatible BIOS, though.

 

[Bona Fide]

If Turion is comparable in the real-world to Pentium M, then are its uses as a desktop limited to a low-heat, low-power, useful-only-in-a-silent-pc setup?

// Drawing this conclusion based on the fact that SPCR uses the Pentium M exclusively for silence tests.

 

[Pabster]

Well I'd imagine the low thermals make it a perfect Candidate for HTPC or Silent PC rigs.

frostedflakes: excellent. I can get my hands on that board real cheap. Any particular BIOS revision needed for Turion support?

 

[frostedflakes]

A quiet PC is actually what I'm using it for.

I know it would work with anything newer than 4/15. 4/8 should also work, but I haven't tested it.

But in the next few days I plan to replace my DFI board with an ASUS K8V-X, which is more friendly for a quiet PC (Via K8T800 uses much less power than nForce3-250Gb). If you're interested, I'll let you know how that works out.

 

[coldpower27]

I think this is the only review I have seen where it was tested that, how long the life score is when the CPU is basically idling.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: DarkKnight69
This is the only review I have EVER seen that has a turion beat the Dothan in battery life...I expected the Turion to match/beat the dothan, same as Yonah will match/beat turion...Newer tech is usually victor on similar archetectures...

Keep in mind that Yonah and the dualcore Turion are coming out at the same time.
I don't think Yonah will have any advantage then either, but we shall see...

Edit: I should add that the only major difference will be that Yonah will still only be 32 bit...

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: Viditor

Originally posted by: DarkKnight69
This is the only review I have EVER seen that has a turion beat the Dothan in battery life...I expected the Turion to match/beat the dothan, same as Yonah will match/beat turion...Newer tech is usually victor on similar archetectures...

Keep in mind that Yonah and the dualcore Turion are coming out at the same time.
I don't think Yonah will have any advantage then either, but we shall see...

Edit: I should add that the only major difference will be that Yonah will still only be 32 bit...

By the time those two come out, XP64 and 64 bit in general will hopefully be gaining more popularity....i don't see how intel will get away with releasing another 32bit platform. is there any speculated time frame for when the dual core Turion will be availible? i'm really looking forward to that.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Pabster
Well I'd imagine the low thermals make it a perfect Candidate for HTPC or Silent PC rigs.

frostedflakes: excellent. I can get my hands on that board real cheap. Any particular BIOS revision needed for Turion support?

lol, sorry for making you spend more money on computer hardware

Let me know how the results are, though.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Avalon
lol, sorry for making you spend more money on computer hardware

Let me know how the results are, though.

Don't worry, I have a nice big budget for new toys.

I'm working on it.

 

[Bona Fide]

Originally posted by: Hyperlite

Originally posted by: Viditor

Originally posted by: DarkKnight69
This is the only review I have EVER seen that has a turion beat the Dothan in battery life...I expected the Turion to match/beat the dothan, same as Yonah will match/beat turion...Newer tech is usually victor on similar archetectures...

Keep in mind that Yonah and the dualcore Turion are coming out at the same time.
I don't think Yonah will have any advantage then either, but we shall see...

Edit: I should add that the only major difference will be that Yonah will still only be 32 bit...

By the time those two come out, XP64 and 64 bit in general will hopefully be gaining more popularity....i don't see how intel will get away with releasing another 32bit platform. is there any speculated time frame for when the dual core Turion will be availible? i'm really looking forward to that.

No doubt AMD will release it to stem the tide of Yonah's sales. I would expect it to come anywhere from a month before Yonah, to a month after. No earlier, and no later.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

I have a Turion case badge on the battery cover of my graphing calculator.
And I have a huge Turion box sticker on the front cover.