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| Thread ID: 37657 | 2003-09-14 08:01:00 | New Laptop AMD 2200+ running at only 383Mhz?? | kiki (762) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 175175 | 2003-09-14 08:01:00 | Hi everyone, :) We've just aquired a new Sony Vaio laptop running XP Home. I've had a look at some of the details in System Properties and it says that it is a AMD XP-M 2200+ processor running at 383Mhz. 383Mhz!! I was pretty sure the 2200+ processor has a clock speed of about 1.7Ghz, so why is the system properties only saying 383Mhz? The laptop is running under full AC power and I thought it should be running at full processor speed if on full power. Shouldn't it only decrease processor speed if the laptop is running off bateries and they are getting low on power? Maybe there is a program which can more accurately determine the current clock speed. I look forward to your insights people. |
kiki (762) | ||
| 175176 | 2003-09-14 08:13:00 | My guess is that it will not operate at full speed unless it needs to. Sittling coasting along, not being overworked, why would it need to go flat out? The technology is used for temperature control as well as battery life. AMD chips are known for being portable heaters, so stepping it back at times of low processor requirements makes good sense to me. AMD say: The Key Benefits of AMD PowerNow!™ Technology are: * Optimizes battery life * Provides performance on demand when required by the application * Allows the processor to dissipate less heat under normal operating conditions, providing a cooler and quieter-running notebook * Operates automatically in the background |
godfather (25) | ||
| 175177 | 2003-09-14 10:02:00 | Thanks godfather thats a good point. But wouldn't applications etc load up slower if its only running at the lower speed? Say I open up internet explorer, and the cpu decides that doesn't warrant a cpu speed increase, so IE loads up much slower than it would than if it was running at full clock speed. I thought one of the benefits of having a fast processor is to decrease the waiting time for applications to load? How fast does it take these cpus to crank up to full speed? |
kiki (762) | ||
| 175178 | 2003-09-14 10:15:00 | >* Provides performance on demand when required by the application I should imagine that when its loading an application it runs faster. If I was planning such an arrangement, thats how I would want it to happen. Thats why it will be hard to benchmark it. Its only going to get a snapshot of the speed at that instant. From your concerns, do we assume its running like a snail? If so, I would take it back. Have recently changed laptops here, and I specifically avoided the AMD solution, because although cheaper there is a heat issue under load I believe, in comparison to Intel. The Mobile AMD with the PowerNow technology should keep it under control though. Some low cost laptops actually have a desktop AMD chip in them, and you can cook dinner on them. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 175179 | 2003-09-14 13:14:00 | > Some low cost laptops actually have a desktop AMD chip in them, and you can cook dinner on them. lol yes, quite true. I can't imagine running a new desktop cpu without a large heatsink and fan to compensate for the heat output. But where could you fit that in a laptop. Glad we went with the Mobile AMD processor. Can't say I've seen a performance decrease yet, was just wondering why it wasn't running at full speed. Thanks for clearing that up. |
kiki (762) | ||
| 175180 | 2003-09-14 22:20:00 | I've got a mate with an AMD powered Compaq laptop. I thought it might be a tad annoying in lectures because of noise it would make, to my surprise it was completely silent while he was typing in Word (apart from the typing noise), because it would have been running at a reduced speed. Then he decided to play Vietcong during the lecture the processor went to full speed and the lappy started sounding like a vacuum cleaner. | -=JM=- (16) | ||
| 175181 | 2003-09-15 05:13:00 | "cook dinner"? There was a case recently when a guy cooked "mountain oysters" with his laptop. The CPU speed won't affect programme loading ... it's disk speed which governs that. The CPU does very little work with DMA drives. Even with PIO, a slow processor is still much faster than the disk's data rate. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 175182 | 2003-09-15 05:24:00 | Ahh Vietcong, thanks for reminding me to install that. Gotta try it out ;) | kiki (762) | ||
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