Celeron M question....

Okay, this thread will probably drive Admins nuts, since i am sort of reviving an old topic.

I have a Toshiba Satellite M70 (PSM73C-CL100E) with a 1.6 GHz Celeron M 380. Dothan core. 100 MHz Quad pumped FSB. Nx bit enabled.

A CPU ID utility I had (NOT CPU-Z) read the ID string off the core. It read Pentium M Dothan 2.xxx GHz. If i can find the utility, i'll post a screenie.

Point is, If it really is a Pentium M core that has been set by software to act like a Celeron, and not a P-M that has some bum pathways, then it should have Speedstep in the processor.... unless Intel burned out the pathways like they did with the 386 DX when they werent producing enough chips with a bum math co processor....

Whadaya think? Is it possible to enable speedstep?

 

No, but you can undervolt and if your computer has a 915gm chipset, you can try a pinmod to 2.13 GHz (133MHz quad-pumped).

 

If this really is a Celeron M 380, you will not be able to enable SpeedStep. I don't even think you can undervolt, either, but I'm not totally sure about that one. The last Celeron I played with definitely didn't work with RMClock.

Your best bet is probably just to buy a real Pentium M. They're pretty cheap up through the Pentium M 740 or 750, and it should give you a decent boost in performance and power. Don't waste your time trying to mess with this Celeron...

 

Clereon M = Pentium M with speedstep disabled.

The performance is the same as they are identical chips. Yes Intel disables speedstep on purpose.

 

Less cache too.

 

Ya but the performance increase is not noticeable.

 

Actually, that depends entirely on what software you are running.

One of the reasons that Intel succeeded the Banias-core Pentium M with the Dothan core was specifically because Banias performance suffered under load due to lack of cache. Clock-for-clock, Dothan outperforms Banias by 10-20% depending on the application; a good portion of this is due to having 2MB of cache instead of 1MB.

For this reason, I'd tend to disagree, especially if the OP uses Photoshop, video encoding, or does a lot of multitasking. The Dothan Celeron M is likely to perform about like a Banias Pentium M (they have the same cache size), although a bit cooler, and without Speedstep, so its battery life will be poorer than either Pentium M.

 

Thanks for the feedback.
Here is a screenie...



Unfortunately, I cant find the program that i quoted the string from....

Also its an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M chipset.... I'll find a way to pinmod it.

 

<s>Whoops.. I think you can't dot the pinmod on that chipset..</s>

edit: I'm not sure if you can do the pinmod, but otherwise you could search up clockgen for your chipset for a possible software overclock.

Of course, on eBay there are a lot of cheap Pentium M for sale ~$20, so that is also an option. If you do decide to purchase off of eBay, just make sure you get a Pentium M because there are a lot of sellers who are (mistakenly?) selling Pentium 4s under the title of Pentium M, which will definitely not work.

 

so much fun eh? You'd think that these sellers would know what they are talking about....

Anyway, i do have clockgen, and can get the CPU up to about 1784 MHz before it crashes.... Me thinks a Voltmod is next....

Also, in case anyone is interested, the chip that controls the frequency is a ICS 951416.


You can see what I'm saying though... if speedstep is disabled because the microcode isnt there, or because the BIOS doesnt support it, then it should just be a matter of enabling it in the bios, or adding the microcode...