Athlon 64 for notebooks - Not Quite Desktop, Not Quite Mobile

There has been some confusion, as a result of Athlon 64 designation for mobile products. Voodoo’s M:855 are shipping with AMD Athlon 64 DTR (desktop replacement) 3200+. This is not the same as the desktop versions, as the DTR version has a few gate improvements, which is supposed to provide for better thermal and power characteristics compared to its desktop big brother.

The DTR version of Athlon 64 (pictured below) is clearly not intended for anything other than desktop replacement notebooks, as that is the reason behind the appropriate naming. The thermal and power characteristics are very close to what we have seen on the desktop Athlon 64 parts, and DTR, for its name sake, only features minimal improvements in this department.

Voodoo Envy M:855 - Athlon 64 DTR 3200+

The physical markings on the DTR CPU should be the same as the desktop version, but they clearly will be marketed as two different products. From our recent talks with AMD and our own use of the Voodoo Envy M:855, we gather that Windows XP and processor identification tools should show the DTR versions the same as the desktop versions.

We should clearly note that AMD has upcoming Athlon 64 mobile processors for systems of the thin and light variety, but this is an entirely different product, which should have further announcements in the near future.

Voodoo Envy M:855 – Hexing up a Storm Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro - OverDrive?
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  • Shalmanese - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link

    Well, seeing as this is the first 9600 based production notebook they have in the lab in the moment, its kinda hard to bench it against any others. WHEN they review the Sager, I'm sure they will have the Voodoo benchie in there.
  • ssamurai26 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link

    Ok, who makes the closest notebook to the Voodoo then?
  • Locutus4657 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link

    No offence.... But why didn't you compare the preformance of this notebook v. several other notebooks when it came to game preformance... I'm more than a little dissapointed to see yet another ATI/nVidia comparison in what should be a comparison of finished notebook products.
  • KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link

    #7: AnandTech doesnt get paid to do reviews. What a troll. Did you even notice Andrew wrote this review and not Anand? I'm writing this on a Sager by the way.

    Kristopher
  • petz - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link

    "Up to par" with DELL's best? Is that what you call 50 to 100% higiher FPS on every benchmark?
  • Madcat207 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link

    In NO way is AW the closest.

    Unless your taking about the deepest pockets......
  • ssamurai26 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link

    Yes, would have been nice to see some competition in there. It was interesting none the less, but it even says in the review that the closest competitor is Alienware. And Alienware has both fx5600go and M10 in their machines.
  • Madcat207 - Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - link

    Andrew, that is fine, but it still doesnt explain why there was no comparable model tested. Was Anand not paid enough to test a Sager along with it?
  • Boonesmi - Tuesday, November 4, 2003 - link

    unlike some of the folks above, i liked the review... and im looking forward to part 2 (part 2 will have the info im more interested in)
  • Andrew Ku - Tuesday, November 4, 2003 - link

    There is a reason that this can still be called a 9600 Pro. First of all, the revelation of the requirements for the Pro name only came to light in the last 48 hours. Sager themselves wouldn't have known about this until recently.

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