CF 48 P3 M1.13?. Is it actually faster than the P4 1.4?

Newbie here with a CF-48 semi-rugged question. Someone tried to tell me that the older PIII 1.13 M was actually a wee-bit faster than the same unit in a P4 1.4?. Not to be one that does the whole benchmark thing, if not faster, were the P3 M-Class "better" machines overall?

I'm trying to equate to some of the standard desktop PC's where 1ghz and better PIII's were better machines than the earlier p4's at much higher ghz. Perhaps the heat issue comes into play where the older P4's ran much warmer ie resistance.

Also, if one wanted to cheaply upgrade to say a P4 1,8 CF-48 from his PIII one day (and say found a parts P4 1.8 CF 48 with a good MB), is this doable or different cases?. I'd probably want to do this to a dirt cheap Piii 700 mhz machine instead.

Thanks
Bryan, 29351

 

I am not sure if I can definitively answer your questions, but I can give you some related information. The Pentium M, not to be confused with the Pentium 3m or 4m, is actually based on the Pentium 3 die with a new "top end" making it much faster than the Pentium 3&4s.
In the Toughbook CF-27s and 28s I know the processor is soldered in, so you cannot easily upgrade them. The CF-72s can be upgraded, but only in the same family, I.E. the 1.6Ghz P4m model will accept up to a 2.5Ghz p4m processor as long as it is a 478 pin .13micron 400mhz front side bus. The Pentium 3m models will take up to around a 1.2Ghz p3m.
So it depends on which processor the CF-48 is actually using and whether they are soldered in.

 

That's very helpful information actually. That tells me that to upgrade a 27, one must replace the entire motherboard, likewise on the 28. I need to find out indeed if the 48's have replaceable processors which would at a minimum, give one a decent boost, if the BIOS isn't a question, from a potentially low 700 mhz to a decent 1.2 ghz.

BTW, was it just me, I liked my 28 800 mhz, but no matter what I did (running W2k), it seemed dreadfully slow almost like a PII rather than a PIII. But that was with a 4200 rpm HD not a 5400 or 7200rpm one.

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

Your issue probably stems from either a desire for too many toys on your laptop, or too little RAM. I run W2K on a 600 MHZ with 384M RAM, and it's MORE than fast enough. Of course, I don't try to watch streaming video on it either but W2K, once configured, is really a halfway decent OS. It runs quite lean unless you try to put too much cr@p on it...

mnem<~~~ Has run XP Pro on a P3/700 w/256M RAM quite happily*

 

hi, i never had a p3 48 apart,but did own one 800mhz unit, i used a dvd burner in it and it worked well. i own several 1.8mhz p4 48's and have had them apart. the processor is a replacable 478 pin. watch ebay you can pick up bare 1.8 for cheap http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160225870839&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D160225870839%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1 also in the 1.8 base it comes prewired for wifi, just slip in a 3b card! hope this helps

 

I find that the most noticeable upgrade as far as speed in running the programs and a more responsive feel, is a faster hard drive. RAM is needed for smoother video and when running more programs or having multiple windows open while online, to keep from experiencing hang ups and crashes.

If Therage's CF-48 P3 is like the CF-72 P3s the motherboard will not accept a P4, so the fastest P3 is a 1.33Ghz Intel model number SL6CS Pentium P3. You can check it out here,

http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ProcFam=55&sSpec=&OrdCode=

And check out the available model numbers for compatible processors. The (frontside) bus speed in the 1.13 p3 you mentioned is 133mhz so all the processors listed using that bus speed will work. The fastest one I could find on Ebay was a 1.2Ghz SL6A7:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MOBILE-P3-1-20-...VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Total cost $20 including shipping.

P.S. I wrote the above post before clicking on 48users link and realizing he was talking about replacing the whole motherboard! I went ahead and posted because there is some good information there. The link to Intels Processor Spec Finder is invaluable, I use it for my Ebay Keyword searches when looking for processors, the page for P4s is here:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ParentRadio=All&ProcFam=826&SearchKey=

Filter by (frontside) bus speed of 400mhz and 478 pin in package type. At least for the Intel MP845 chipset used in the later CF-72s. The Intel site also has a chipset finder you can run to find out which chipset you are running, you can find it here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...pUtil.exe&DwnldId=8264&ProductID=757&lang=eng

The Intel site can take a while to load though!

 

Going back to the original question: The old rule of thumb was a factor of 1.8.

ie A 1.8GHz P4 is the equivalent of a 1GHz Pentium 3 for processing power (but generated a lot more heat in the process). So 800MHz P3 would be the equivalent of a 1.4GHz P4. See the bottom part of the single core table in this thread for some confirmatory results.

The current Core series CPUs use Pentium 3 architecture with a few tweaks. The Pentium 4 series and its planned successor melted in the heat it created and sunk out of sight.

John

 

You must mean a Pentium 3 BASED Pentium M is faster than a Pentium 4(m). Not a Pentium 3(m) is faster than a Pentium 4(m). I checked the numbers on the link provided and that is confirmed, it is also pretty much what I said above. Thanks!

 

P.S. In case anyone in the future is wondering, the Ebay link in 48users post above was to a cf-48 motherboard

" Panasonic Toughbook CF-48 Motherbard with Intel Pentium 4 1.8GHz CPU, Fan, Heatsink and Bottom Plastic # Model : X4KNUDM" .

The winning bid was $76 plus 14.99 shipping. Seller had 587 feedback at 100% positive.