The AMD Turion 65nm refresh?

I've read a few stories recently about the AMD refresh and die shrink of the Turion processors to 65nm and DDR2-800 support.

My laptop (Everex XT5000T) has the TL-50 90nm CPU. I'm very curious to know if the new CPUs will work in our laptops. I can't see why not. But I'm more of a desktop than laptop person, so not familiar with all the possible quirks with laptop upgrades.

Also curious, with the updated memory controller, would we be able to use DDR2-800 memory now too?

http://techreport.com/onearticle.x/12230

 

If your processor is Turion X2, the socket is the same (Socket S1), so don't this you'll need anything but a BIOS upgrade to support the new processor.
Which should be released if your current notebook would be refreshed with a 65nm part.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turion_X2
About the memory :
I think this one might be a little tricky.It's true that the processor will support DDR2-800 but I don't know whether the same mobo can support the higher clock settings (This might be fixable by a newer BIOS)
Just my .02

 

I agree with mujtaba. The socket for the processor is the same, and since it can accomodate a Turion X2, I don't see why the new 65 nm Turion X2 won't work. Memory is a bit more a problem, however. Its normally something that depends on the chipset, so if that doesn't support 800 MHz RAM, then a BIOS update probably won't fix it. If the chipsrt does support 800 MHz memory, then again, a BIOS update may allow you to use such memory.

 

Hmmm it'd be interesting to see how well the 65nm refresh stacks up against Intel's Santa Rosa offerings.

Laptop manufacturers tend to go with the cheapest parts possible for their mobos, so it's unlikely they would put a northbridge capable of handling 800Mhz RAM in just in case the 65nm refresh offers that option.

 

Isnt one of the main differances between AMD and intel chips that the memory controler is on the CPU with AMD?

 

Yes, the memory controller is on the AMD chip.But I think still mobo (for the sake of Memory Clock and HyperTransport Clock) has to support it, though it might be something as little as a BIOS upgrade.

 

Yep guess I forgot they integrated the northbridge into the chip. However as mentioned the mobo still has to support 800Mhz DDR2.

 

So a computer that supports TX2 processors and up to 667MHz memory will be upgradeable to the new TX2 and 800MHz memory simply with a BIOS update?

I can definitely see the cpu part, but I doubt a simple BIOS flash will change the memory acceptance of the mobo. But if someone else has a say in this and can prove it otherwise, then great.

 

Agreed. Just because the memory controller is in the processor doesn't mean that the motherboard will automatically accept PC6400 memory when you stick it in.

 

This won't compete with Santa Rosa per se, since it's still the old K8 architecture, but it will bring down power consumption and the 2.3Ghz Turion X2 will probably compete with the T5600 decently well, depending on pricing.