Here is a good article if you are thinking about AMD X2

From Laptop Logic

Yes, I mean if you are considering AMD X2 platform, not only CPU itself.

Clear my doubt if you have experience with the term
C3 deep sleep
C4 deeper sleep

When would a laptop turn into above state? Pushing to Standby? Hibernate? Close hing? Or just simply do nothing and let PWM turn system into sleep.

 

Nice Article.

The deep sleep states are automatically activated depending on the CPU usage. No need to put it in hibernate or standby. Hibernate will actually turn off the processor.

One more thing, the new pre release version of RM Clock is capable of undervolting the Turion X2. The VID@4x multiplier is not locked and can go as low as 0.55V. Although mine didnt fare well at any VID other than the stock. But it did run 0.925V @ 1.6GHz. This reduced my max temps from 71C to around 59C!!

 

Reallllllllllly, that amazed me

A LOT!!!
I remember you have a V3000/X2 1.6G right?

0.55V means almost half of standard TDP.
0.925V is about the same as core duo 2+G running at 1.6 G

AMD really has the potential.

But where did you get pre release? I still get April version 2.1

 

Dont get you hopes up though. I couldnt get mine to run stably at anything other than the stock 0.8V@800MHz. But it has good undervolting potential at max speed. 0.925V is lower than the stock Core Duo@1GHz. So, that a pretty good reduction. The TDP at this level should also be much lower than 31W. The max temperatures are the major difference, It was pretty impressive. I ran 2 instances of Prime95 for a few hours and it was rock stable and the temps were down by 12C.

The new manufacturing process seems o have helped AMD control the power. It is amazing that the 90nm TX2 is comparable to or has even lower power consumption than the 65nm CD.

The pre-release is available in the RM Clock forums...
http://forum.rightmark.org/topic.cgi?id=6:712
As stated by the name, it is still Beta version. There some known bugs, so I would suggest waiting for the full release version.

 

Then what artical said is true, C D is running at 1G minimum speed. That is sUcks. I remember P-M running at 700 M something.

Your maximum TDP is around 22 W. X2 rocks.

Have you ever tried Linux testing? People report X2 fires task in Ubuntu is very slow compare to C D.

 

Will undervolting help saving battery life and keep the same performance? Are there any drawbacks for doing this?

 

Drawback: Potential instability. But as long as your system is stable, there are no drawbacks.

Advantages: Yes, lower voltage means lower power consumption and lower heat output, meaning better battery life, lower overall temperaturs, and if you're lucky, less fan activity (meaning less noise and slightly better battery life as well)

Keep in mind that TDP isn't very relevant in notebooks (or at all). It's only if you constantly run your cpu at full load that TDP is the least relevant to look at. And even then, it's silly because it does not show maximum power consumption or anything, and Intel and AMD measure it *very* differently (hint: Add 10-15% to Intel's TDP's to get an accurate figure)
But notebooks typically rely more on efficient low-power states, where TDP means nothing at all.

And yes, the fact that AMD is actually more or less competetive even in this market with the same basic architecture, and running at 90nm, is pretty **** impressive. Should be interesting when they move to 65nm.
And even more interesting when they reveal the next-gen architecture they're making for notebooks specificially.

 

There it is, I have just finished the review.
One question I'm still puzzling is, AMD is going to move to 65nm architecture in Q4 2006, and also mentioned the BullDozer in 1H 2007.
So in Q4 2006 there is only a 65nm version of the current Turion X2, right?
I doubt that I can wait for BullDozer for it's way too long to wait. Just wondering between the Core 2 Duo and the 65nm Turion X2.

One more thing? How did they gather the information for this article? I really wish to ask AMD some questions in person.

 

I have tried Ubuntu(albeit very briefly) with the CD as well as the TX2. I didnt notice any significant differences in performance. I would have used Ubuntu, if I had the patience to get it working.

Yeah, the 65nm TX2's will most probably be a dumb shrink. The Bulldozers are slated for next year based on a modified architecture. The Core 2 Duo will outperform the current TX2 and most probably even the 65nm TX2 unless the clocks are significantly higher.

They did contact AMD...

 

interesting article, no doubt. I hope there will be a big, brand new undervolting thread for turion X2

 

I am also working on Ubuntu. W32codec problem seems through all 64 distributions. Other than that, 64bit OS is just edge faster then 32 bit.

Yeah, most likely cut down the price. I hope they don't change socket again when bulldozer cames.

 

Performance is not a real matter for a student, cuz both are powerful enough. What I really am concerned is the battery life, and hope that 65nm can help MUCH with it.
Core 2 Duo outperform TX2 - Are you refering the peak performance? Intel tends to make CPU with higher clock but never do I touch the top one. No doubt the top Core 2 Duo is over the Top TX2, but the medium TX2 should be better than the lower C2D, right?
I love the idea of having an AMD inside, but seems like that I'm gonna go for C2D to hit the road.

Could someone give a close estimation of the release date for 65nm TX2? I don't think I can wait till early Oct.

 

Battery life will be similar to a equivalently equipped Core Duo. Just take a look at the nc6400 or dv2000t reviews and both laptops with a Core Duo with 6 cell battery last around 2hr:30min. I have a TX2 with a 6 cell battery(same as the one in the dv2000t) and I get around the same battery life with Wifi on and low brightness. The 12 cell battery extends it to 5hr:30min which is very good by any standards.

From your reply in the other thread, I see that you are planning on getting a dv6000z, if you got it with the 6 cell battery then expect the battery to last around 2:00hrs. dont think you can get any better even if you bought the same laptop with the CD.

As for 65nm TX2 expect it around the end of the year. I dont think they can ship it by October. The C2D should offer performance benefits over the TX2 but as you said, most people dont even require a dual core processor but people do want something new, better always. The benefits of C2D will apparant only if you want to run the processor at max or run benchmarks. So depending on your uses either processor should be fine.

 

If you really want to protect your investment, my idea is get current AMD platform and plugin Sempron instead. It sounds a bit of ODD, but really save your $s. With less than $800 DV6000z you will get good potential platform + just enough processing power for student. I bet the new Sempron 3200+ perform just like Turion MT-30 or even MT-32 with 25W TDP. And you will have a great Go 7200 GPU to unload your CPU even watching HD video. The standard DVD runtime should be slightly longer than X2 on battery since it is 25W designed.

With this platform, you will have enough time to wait mature 65nm X2 releasing/testing/twicking, and etc.

 

You're probably out of luck then. They most likely won't be out before december or so. From all I've seen, they are really aiming at an end of year release for 65nm in general. And I don't even know if Turion will be the first to get the 65nm makeover. If not, it could be even longer.

 

Is there any news about compatibility of the new 65nm/bulldozer cpus with the current s1 socket. Im thinkin that since the socket was just introduced, theres no way that their gonna make a whole new one again only months later. So I really hope that just like the Core duo thing, u can take current x2 machines and pop in a 65nm or a bulldozer chip with a new bios.

 

That's how economy developed, isn't it? You bought one and think it will last, but really don't for several month. Just kidding.

AMD shift from 939/754 to AM2/AM1 mostly because DDR2 issue. Think of how long they took from DDR to DDR2? Years. Their next step is DDR3 or L3 cache on their road map, but DDR3 is really not happen yet. So the largest change is using L3 cache which might change BIOS quite a bit.

 

Werd, it be really nice to get a cheapo laptop now with the turion x2, then pop in a "bulldozer" and bowl over the competition next year. Too bad x2 laptops dont coem with any sort of gpu right now.

 

I know on the desktop side, they plan to make next-gen cpu's backwards compatible with the current AM2 socket.

I don't know if they have similar plans for notebooks, or if their next-gen chips will actually use S1 as their primary socket.

 

X2 is a bit of slow compare to core duo, that's the reason I am sticking with lowest end. Next year, you will pop off whatever in that socket anyway.

The GPU resource is really hack me off. Why in the world Intel always get better GPU, and AMD is squized down really low end GPU in Thin&Light world.

 

possibly because AMD notebooks have decent integrated graphics available, so they don't have the same urgent need for dedicated graphics.

Intel's GMA950 is only really suitable if you don't care about graphics at all. If you do need decent, but still low-power graphics, you're pretty much out of luck on Intel (where you'd need a dedicated gpu, which tends to eat more power), or run an ATI/NVIdia motherboard, which are hard to find for Intel notebooks.

On an AMD system, the integrated graphics offerings are *much* better, so for the low end/thin & light, you can get by without a dedicated graphics card.

That's just a guess though. Which notebooks are you talking about in particular? I haven't seen many AMD-based thin & light notebooks at all, but might be interested in buying one, just for the better integrated graphics.
So, got a few links?

 

No...
I am talking about Nvidia Go 6150 compare to Go 7200 in HP. Of course, ATI 1150 is equipped in both C D and X2. But you have to choose between 6150+X2 and C D+7200, or a 6 lbs 7200+X2.

950 is considered as thin & cheap laptop now. Even with integrated GPU, the theme is on ATI, Nvidia, and future Intel 965(really power consumming).

Also for the latest news, AMD is planning to release AM2 4 cores Opet sometimes next year. Following this lead, AM1/AM2 will probably have a long run.