The ultimate 754 for quiet PCs (90nm "Oakville")

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 7:22 pm

Finally, a practical source for low-power mobile Athlon64s.

http://www.memoryexpousa.com/amdatmo28754.html

Nevermind the picture or description. I emailed them and a tech verified the OPN listed (AMD2800BKX4LB) is in fact correct. This is a 2800+ "Oakville."

I recently found one on eBay, and CPU-Z verifies this is a 90nm revision D0 part. Rated speed is 1.8GHz at 1.35v.

At 1.35v, my load temp (F@H) is 31*C. For reference, PWM IC and system temps reported by my temp monitor are both 30*C. My 2800+ desktop Newcastle with the IHS removed was around 37*C IDLE at 1.8GHz with default voltage.

And for $112 with free DHL Ground shipping, the price can't be beat.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:08 pm

that chip, is a DTR, i think they go slower as a rule even for its clockspeed, and also notice its 256KB cache, thats like not happening in my computer.

im looking forward to getting a meg cache upgrading from this 512K !!

it could be silent yes, but it might not work as well

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:18 pm

As I mentioned in my original post, the picture and description are incorrect. The OPN is AMD2800BKX4LB.

AM - Athlon64 mobile
D - 35w
2800 - 2800+ (1.8GHz)
B - Lidless 754-pin OµPGA
K - 1.35v
X - 95*C threshold
4 - 512kb
LB - D0 revision

http://fab51.com/cpu/guide/opn-64-e.html

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:13 pm

frostedflakes wrote:As I mentioned in my original post, the picture and description are incorrect. The OPN is AMD2800BKX4LB.

AM - Athlon64 mobile
D - 35w
2800 - 2800+ (1.8GHz)
B - Lidless 754-pin OµPGA
K - 1.35v
X - 95*C threshold
4 - 512kb
LB - D0 revision

http://fab51.com/cpu/guide/opn-64-e.html

Would this then perform the same as the 90 nm 939 3000+ chip not counting its dual channel memory? I remember that some dtr's had performance differences compared to their same ghz counterparts.
yay or nay?

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:40 pm

Save for the lack of dual channel, this is basically a 939 Winchester. I don't know where you read that DTRs perform worse than the desktop chips. Clock for clock they should be the same, as with any mobile. They're the same cores, without the heatspreader and in some cases rated for a lower voltage.

The 2800+ "Oakville" I bought off eBay is a week 30, and doesn't seem to be a good overclocker. I've taken it to 2.2GHz with 1.5v, but will get crashes every other day or so. I think my northbridge is causing instability (I have almost no airflow over it, and the heatsink gets hot enough to burn my hand), but then again it may be the chip. I don't know what kind of stock this store carries, but the newer weeks should overclock better.

What motherboard are you using? Not many are verified to work correctly with low-power mobiles. Mine is currently on a DFI LanParty UT NF3 250Gb with the 1/28 BIOS. I think VNF3-250s also support mobiles with the latest BIOS, and a handful of other boards have been confirmed. You'll be taking a risk that it may not work though with some of the less-known boards, though.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 11:15 pm

hm i Have a ABIT kv8 pro, the one that supposedly can use 2 chips of memory with cool n quiet enabled but it cant. sux right? I have 1 gig of ram in it, probably fine enough for now, gona switch out the motherboard if windows 64 runs noticably better with 2 gigs.

I doubt this board can use a DTR chip, im glad for your info about how it should perform the same with just lower power.

Id buy it in a heartbeat if it would work in my system as it is now.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 11:23 pm

No problem. Only one way to find out if it works, but I also understand that not everyone is willing to spend $110+ on a component that may or may not actually be compatible with your hardware.

For anybody else who wants to take the chance, though, please be sure to post yours results. Post up the stepping to we can see what week and such your chip is, and post your motherboard and if it worked or not.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:56 pm

frostedflakes wrote:No problem. Only one way to find out if it works, but I also understand that not everyone is willing to spend $110+ on a component that may or may not actually be compatible with your hardware.

For anybody else who wants to take the chance, though, please be sure to post yours results. Post up the stepping to we can see what week and such your chip is, and post your motherboard and if it worked or not.

hm, I dont normally use non abit/intel boards. I would try a gigabyte, asus always sucked for so many years (was a comp tech for 3 years), that I wouldnt ever bother with them no matter how good they got. MSI is off and on crappy but makes no claims for quality. DFI, have no idea about them at all as far as PCI component compatibility (i use odd usb and pci add ins for audio recording)

jojo4u · Post by **jojo4u** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 1:07 pm

As Cool'n'Quiet does not work with Athlon 64 mobile CPUs, is there nowadays software available which enables the PowerNow on desktop boards?

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 3:51 pm

These CPU's have been around since december at least (see my post) and they're not DTR. I'm not surprised that it won't overclock very good, just look at the Vcore. 2.0 GHz @ 1.35 V is not really impressing, going 0.05 V under the S939 counterpart which got a higher clock speed(2.2 GHz @ 1.4 V).
The 130 nm ones looked better, running at 1.2 V (athough only 1.8 GHz) compared to 1.5 V for the desktop versions.

If you really must have 90 nm for S754 then fine. Just remember that it's VERY hard to find a mobo that works with both 90 nm and mobile. And don't just "try" a lot of mobos and think you will be lucky before you've read the 34 page long thread at anandtech.com about Mobile A64. You just can't imagine how much trouble those people have gone through! Please note that they had all that trouble with 130 nm ones, 90 nm is even more difficult.

If you're only interested in the 90 nm version I can tell you that you will find very little info about them on page 34 only, just one guy called Renderman who have one running flawless with a MSI K8N Neo Platinum together with a newer BIOS.

Mobile 130 nm is another story, more mobos works and there are cheap mobile CPU's available with 1 MB cache.

Otherwise I would suggest S939 for overclocking instead. No worries about incompatibility and lower price. Or wait for Turion, the next big compatibility challenge!

Edit: On the other hand, I think that many early 90 nm CPU's didn't overclock any good at all, like that one from week 30.
Try to get one of the legendary 0448 SPAW and we'll see....

And yeah, the price is really good!

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 7:21 pm

They've been around for a while (before December I think, maybe late Q3 '04/early Q4), but this is the first vendor I've found in the US that keeps regular stock and doesn't charge an arm and a leg.

The 130nm low-power mobiles look very good, but I have yet to find a store that doesn't charge $200-250 for the 2700+ and 2800+ (and for that price, why not get a 3400+ NC). I think there is even a 3000+ version that runs at 2GHz with 1.2v! But I haven't come by any of those, so it's not confirmed.

Thanks for the Anandtech link, I'll be sure to read it. BIOS compatibility is a big problem, and as always buy-at-your-own-risk unless you have a board that's confirmed to work with mobiles or are willing to accept the possibility it won't work. Unless you are a BIOS modding god, and have the ability to add CPU microcodes to the BIOS. In which case let us know, as I'm sure there are a lot of people who would be more likely to buy these if they could be sure it would work without a hitch in their motherboard.

I emailed the company inquiring as to what weeks and steppings they have. If there are any CBBHD late week 40s, I'll most definitely be upgrading my current mobile. Chances are though their stock isn't that new.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:04 pm

frostedflakes wrote:The 130nm low-power mobiles look very good, but I have yet to find a store that doesn't charge $200-250 for the 2700+ and 2800+ (and for that price, why not get a 3400+ NC). I think there is even a 3000+ version that runs at 2GHz with 1.2v! But I haven't come by any of those, so it's not confirmed.

I meant those cheap (starting at $170 here in Sweden) mobile 130 nm that got 1 MB cache, the only S754 desktop CPU that got so much cache today is the 3700+ which is quite expensive ($420 here), although much faster.

The only 35 W, 2 GHz, 3000+ is a 90 nm so it runs at 1.35 V, not 1.2 V.

One mobo maker actually mentions some kind of mobile A64 support, that's MSI with their K8NM (µATX), I'm still looking for more info about that one...