The Test
Our configuration for the Athlon 64 3200+ was the same as mentioned in our ABIT KV8-MAX3 review, which we used to achieve scores to compare against the DTR counterpart. The Pentium 4 3.0GHz 800FSB scores were achieved with the Asus P4C800-E. We would have liked to have used a Pentium 4 3.2GHz 800FSB setup, but for timing purposes, it wasn’t possible. The Pentium 4 3.0GHz 800FSB scores have been entered in as a reference point.
It is important to note that the PowerNow (AMD’s equivalent of Intel’s SpeedStep) drivers that came with our Voodoo Envy M:855 are premature. They are full version (non-betas), but never the less are early. Voodoo will qualify the new PowerNow drivers next week, and this will concurrently affect performance. AMD has a general footprint of PowerNow that is sent to OEMs/ODMs/SIs/etc… However, system vendors have the choice of modifying the footprint to a degree. The modification of the PowerNow drivers is dependent on how much a system vendor is willing to take on thermal emissions for performance, and vice versa.
The new drivers from Voodoo should increase performance, as they are readily willing to increase their thermal budget. Additionally, we should note that in many timing benchmarks, PowerNow will create a conflict, as the timing between intervals is often times derived from the CPU. Because CPU frequency dynamically changes in response to the operating environment, the timing is derived incorrectly, and therefore the benchmark reports incorrectly.
| Windows XP Professional Test System | |||||
| Voodoo Envy M:855 | Dell Inspiron 8600 | Dell Latitude D800 | Gigabyte NB-1401 | IBM T40 | |
| CPU(s) | Athlon 64 DTR 3200+ | Pentium M 1.7GHz | Pentium M 1.6GHz | Pentium M 1.4GHz | Pentium M 1.5GHz |
| Motherboard(s) | Voodoo K8T800 | Dell 855PM | Dell 855PM | FIC 855GM | IBM 855PM |
| Memory | 1GB PC2700 | 512MB PC2700 | 512MB PC2100 | 512MB PC2100 | 256MB PC2100 |
| Hard Drive | 60GB 7200RPM | 60GB 7200RPM | 40GB 5400RPM | 40GB 4200RPM | 40GB 5400RPM |
| CDROM | CD-RW/DVD | DVD+RW | CD-RW/DVD | CD-RW/DVD | CD-RW/DVD |
| Video Card(s) | ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB DDR | NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5650 128MB DDR | NVIDIA GeForce4 4200 Go 64MB DDR | Integrated 855PM | ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 |
| Ethernet | Onboard VIA 10/100 | Onboard Broadcom 10/100 | Onboard Intel Gigabit | Onboard Intel Gigabit | Onboard Intel Gigabit |
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional SP1 | ||||
| Video Drivers | ATI 6.14.10.6378 (latest available for Voodoo) | NVIDIA 44.82 (latest available for Dell) | NVIDIA 42.56 (latest available for Dell) | Intel 6.13.10.3510 | ATI 6.13.10.6278 (latest available for IBM) |
| Benchmarking Applications | Bapco SysMark 2002 ZDM Content Creation Winstone 2003 ZDM Business Winstone 2002 BAPCo Mobile Mark 2002 |
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As mentioned earlier, our system came configured with 1GB of system memory. This is a stretch in many aspects because the system comes default configured with 512MB. Additionally, 512MB is the most widely scaled configuration for the motherboard market. For testing purposes, we benchmarked under both 1GB and 512MB configurations. Unless otherwise noted, the Voodoo Envy M:855 was benchmarked under the 512MB configuration.
We already covered graphic performance in our part 1 coverage of the Voodoo Envy M:855, which we recommend reading if that is of interest.
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spawnocula - Friday, November 21, 2003 - link
It would be nice if Anandtech would review the ALIENWARE AREA-51m, Voodoo Envy 855, Sager 8890, and Hypersonic Aviator GX6 or 8, to see which is better of the bunch and has longer upgradeability.spawnocula - Friday, November 21, 2003 - link
alexruiz - Thursday, November 20, 2003 - link
I am quire sure MOST of the available Athlon 64 laptops are based on the MITAC 8355. Clevo doesn't have an Athlon 64 design. The other 2 Athlon 64 laptops are the hyped Arima A520-K8 that is nowhere to be seen (mobility radeon 9000 only though). The other is the Uniwill 766 that employs the SIS 755 chipset, still not seen yet.So, I am 95% confident all the machines available are based on the MITAC design.
Alex
Madcat207 - Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - link
#3&4-Im not sure why the article says there is no DDR400, but Uniwill and Clevo both have good DDR400 supplies. I cant speak for Uniwill, but Clevo ships Apacer PC3200, CL2.5, which can be OCed (with some register editing) to CL2. Also, this ram is commercially sold to end users..
#6-
Hypersonic's A64 laptop is the EXACT same as Voodoo's, since they both get thier laptops from from the same ODM..
mrbdm99 - Monday, November 17, 2003 - link
Hypersonic has a 64 notebook as well, I'm sure it's from Clevo as well.ssamurai26 - Sunday, November 16, 2003 - link
OK, thanks for the clarification.Andrew Ku - Saturday, November 15, 2003 - link
FishTankX - Yes, that would be mighty speedy. :)gordon151 - Well only one score from each actually, a typo, which has been fixed. Thanks!
ssamurai26 - The Alienware 51M systems most likely use Kingmax, but the problem still remains to be supply. SODIMM DDR400 modules are very very rare. The highest speed that is actually available to the general consumer still remains to be DDR333.
ssamurai26 - Friday, November 14, 2003 - link
"While the K8T800 supports DDR400, SODIMM modules are still limited at DDR333, which is why Voodoo had to go with this memory speed."Out of curiousity, why is it then that the Area 51M ships with DDR400 sodimms?
gordon151 - Friday, November 14, 2003 - link
Someone wanna email and tell Andrew Ku he mixed up the "Content Creation Winstone 2003" scores with the "Business Winstone 2002" scores =/?FishTankX - Friday, November 14, 2003 - link
Wow! That Insperon 8600 is running mighty fast at [b]MHz/b].