CPU Intel Atom 230 (Diamondville)
Author:
Date: 19.08.2008 |
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Performance tests
The major problem in comparing the performance was to find the right rival. There was the only way - compare the speed of Gigabyte GC230D versus that of Gigabyte 945GCMCL on which the CPU Intel Celeron 215 (1.33 GHz, 10x133, Conroe-L core) is soldered in, plus 1GB of RAM. The other system is built on the base of the motherboard Foxconn 45CMV (Intel 945GC) and the CPU Core 2 Duo E6550 (2.33 GHz, Conroe), with 2 GB RAM. All the test systems used the integrated graphic core.
In our test setup, we used the following hardware:
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Test setup
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| Video card |
Intel GMA950 core |
| Sound card |
- |
| HDD |
Samsung HD160JJ |
| Memory |
1x 1024 MB 1024 MB GoodRAM DDR2
GP1066D264L5/2GDC |
| Power supply unit |
PowerMan 300 W |
| OS |
Windows XP |
Test results in games (FPS).
Another test - WinRar (Kb/s.; the higher, the better)
Final Words
In our view, processors of the Z series (Silverthorne) combined with chipsets of the U series is a big leap forward in the area of mobile devices. Their low power consumption will make it possible to provide a long operation without re-charging, and the Atom architecture will let run regular x86 applications. As regards Atom N270 and Atom 230 (Diamondville) processors, their combination with the desktop chipset i945GC is not quite successful, in our view. The thing is, the power consumption of this chipset is 22 W, which fully sets back the advantages of Atom in terms of power saving. Unless there is power saving, then performance is of priority, at which Atom is definitely weak as compared to Intel Celeron (Conroe-L).
At the top - CPU Intel Atom, at the bottom - Intel 945G.
One thing - to play Quake 3 comfortably (>60 fps) at 800?600?32 on a communicator which then can be put into the pocket. And quite a different thing is to play the same game on a desktop PC. If games and 3D applications don't matter, then why the developers are not using Atom 230 in combination with the mobile chipset i945GSE whose power consumption (together with the "south bridge") does not exceed 5.5W? Still not clear.
As regards the motherboard Gigabyte GC230D, we found no faults with it - it is a perfect product which fully reveals the capability of the CPU Intel Atom and the chipset i945GC. Another thing is that the efficiency of the combination seems rather dubious, regardless of the motherboard manufacturer.
- Discuss the material in the conference
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