The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Sonoma or Dothan?

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by JolleyJoe, Jul 12, 2005.

  1. JolleyJoe

    JolleyJoe Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    50
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I was just wondering if there is a way to make sure if my computer is a sonoma or dothan?

    What's the difference?

    When I ordered my z71v it said sonoma, but when I run RMclock, it says it's DOTHAN.. is there a bug? or is mine not a sonoma?
     
    JolleyJoe, Jul 12, 2005
    #1
  2. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    2,319
    Messages:
    14,119
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    455
    Actually Sonoma is a Dothan.

    It just means its on the 915 chipset instead of the 855 isnt it?

    It still has the L2 2mb cache and.....stuff :p
     
    coriolis, Jul 12, 2005
    #2
  3. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    7,197
    Messages:
    28,839
    Likes Received:
    2,162
    Trophy Points:
    581
    Sonoma is the chipset combination (based around Intel 915), Dothan CPUs are 2nd generation Pentium Ms (1st generation is Banias) which can work with both the Sonoma chipset and the previous version.

    The main difference with Sonoma is the support for faster DDR-2 RAM, although this does not currently give a lot of performance improvement. See http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20050119/index.html for more details.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 12, 2005
    #3
  4. GregM

    GregM Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    68
    Messages:
    357
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yeah, not to worry. If your processor is a Pentium-M XX5 (e.g. 745, ends in a "5"), then it runs at 400 MHz FSB, if it is Pentium-M XX0 (e.g. 750, ends in a "0"), it runs at 533 MHz FSB. The 533 MHz FSB is the advantage of Sonoma.
     
    GregM, Jul 12, 2005
    #4
  5. bugmenot

    bugmenot Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    24
    Messages:
    452
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    No. The codename for the i915PM/GML chipset was Alviso. And I think it was Montera for the i855GM.

    Sonoma was the codename for the whole of the 2. gen. Centrino platform, namely: Dothan/533 + Alviso + Calxico 2 + ICH6-M.
     
    bugmenot, Jul 12, 2005
    #5
  6. RobotMule

    RobotMule Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    So many codenames....

    I though that the whole recent series of intel processors is "Dothan", with 3 stages.

    -Banias (Or Carmel?) is the previous 400MHz FSB CPU
    -Sonoma is the most current 533MHz FSB CPU
    -Yonah will be the final stage of Dothan (Dual core?)

    Anyway, not sure, but thats what I thought.
     
    RobotMule, Jul 12, 2005
    #6
  7. GregM

    GregM Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    68
    Messages:
    357
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Let's just call it the “thingamabob” and forget the codenames.
     
    GregM, Jul 12, 2005
    #7
  8. bugmenot

    bugmenot Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    24
    Messages:
    452
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Banias. Carmel was supposedly the codename for the first generation Centrino platform, just as Sonoma was for the second.
    No. The CPU is a 533MHz FSB Dothan.
    Pretty much. Or at least the next step. The third generation Centrino featuring the Yonah is codenamed Napa.
     
    bugmenot, Jul 12, 2005
    #8
  9. smilepak

    smilepak Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    43
    Messages:
    1,070
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    smilepak, Jul 12, 2005
    #9
  10. bugmenot

    bugmenot Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    24
    Messages:
    452
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Good writeup. Keeping that link in mind will probably save me some typing at some point in the furure.

    A couple nitpicks, though: On the "Q: If I buy a Sonoma which comes with DDR, can I upgrade to DDRII." You might want to add that no mobile Intel chipset support DDR400, so using it at best might buy you somewhat tighter timings. I've lost count of the number of reviews and people wondering why their notebook memory they paid a premium for is not running at full capacity, or berating the manufacturer for choosing PC2700 instead of the 'faster' PC3200. I've seen the same happening as of late with the i910GML and DDR2 400/533.

    And while you're at it change the screen size intro to read something like 'will most commonly be a resolution of', or something, as this is a customary nomenclature and not a standard.

    You'll find resolutions of 1366x768 (16:9), 1280x800 (16:10), 1280x768 (15:9!), and 1280X720 (16:9) all referred to as WXGA. Sometimes even 1440x900 (16:10) as WXGA(+).

    Also 'Turion' is not a code name. It is, as you corractly state in the next sentence, a brand name. The turion is based on the Athlon 64 core codenamed Lancaster.
     
    bugmenot, Jul 12, 2005
    #10
  11. madmike23

    madmike23 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    64
    Messages:
    762
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Screw it all. I just call it 400, 533, 800 and so on... All these goofy names are ridiculous. Just like Linux- what the hell is an ubuntu? and its sister Kubuntu? Can't they just make something easier to remember?
     
    madmike23, Jul 12, 2005
    #11