Construction - Under the Hood (continued)

The M:855 comes default configured with a single 512MB DDR PC2700 memory module. Our system came with 2 x 512MB DDR PC2700 memory modules.

While the K8T800 supports DDR400, SODIMM modules are still limited at DDR333, which is why Voodoo had to go with this memory speed. Additionally, though the K8T800 supports up to 4GB of system memory, SODIMM modules are limited to 1GB maximum per module, which means the M:855 has the ability to max out at 2GB of system memory due to its two SODIMM slot design. We should note that there is a dramatic increase in price when scaling up from 512MB SODIMM modules to 1GB SODIMM modules for both PC2100 and PC2700.

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Click to enlarge.

The mini-PCI slot on the M:855 comes default configured with the MSI MP54G 802.11g WiFi card. This is the only wireless configuration/mini-PCI configuration available for the M:855.

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Click to enlarge.

The mini-PCI slot is on the top side of the motherboard to the right of the Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro video chip. Directly below the mini-PCI slot is the modem riser interface, which is home to the Billionton MDC56S-I modem.

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Click to enlarge.

The bottom side of the motherboard is where most of the chips reside, including the National Semiconductor PC887393F-VJG Super I/O controller (for keyboard, PS/2, parallel, and serial port control) and the VIA VT6307L IEEE 1394 firewire controller.


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The M:855 has four hard drive configurations available: 40GB 5400RPM, 60GB 7200RPM, 80GB 4200RPM, and 80GB 5400RPM, all of which are of Hitachi’s Travelstar line. Our system came with a Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 60.0GB 7200RPM hard drive, though the default configuration is the 40.0GB 5400RPM solution. The use of a 7200RPM hard drive over a 5400RPM or 4200RPM solution comes with the sacrifice of some power consumption, but for a gaming system, a 7200RPM hard drive is very beneficial.


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Even though the Voodoo Envy M:855 is a desktop replacement notebook, Voodoo doesn’t seem to be packing that much in the audio department, as the speakers on the M:855 are one of the smallest we have seen before. Voodoo is likely working on increasing the size of the speakers; though because it is first and foremost a gaming system, gamers will be using headphones with their M:855.

Construction - Under the Hood The Test
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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].

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