RE: Message 24843540
Wbmw you are wrong even more. The TDP quoted includes the Geode 5536. Unless you are using the maximum TDP which Intel does not state for Atom (or any of its other CPUs). And apples to oranges comparisons are worth less than the screens they paint. To compare to Atom or any non ODMC Intel CPU, you must use the core only. Which the Geode LX 800 CPU core uses 0.9W per the whitepaper I linked (which you evidently didn't read or you wouldn't make such an outrageous claim). The Geode LX 700 (400MHz CPU clock) uses 0.8W and 2W typical with the Geode 5536 chipset straight from the XO technical briefs. Thats the actual use during Winbench 99 with Windows XP (MS sells for $3 for use on XOs).
BTW the Geode 5536 has USB 2.0 ports, IDE interface, AC97 and much more. The Geode GX and LX dies have a PCI interface, which have more stuff able to be attached than PCIe does, even now, especially in the embedded world. They also have a GPU (2D only, but weren't you saying that is all that is needed for T&Ls?) with TFT outputs and CRT outputs (much more likely in the low cost 3rd world). PCIe isn't needed especially in the low end. You do see the 5W typical power budget for XO don't you? Atom CPU alone uses too much damn power for it to be considered, 2.5W typical compared to Geode LX 700 plus Geode 5536 combo's 2W typical. Add to that all of its chipset power hogs like memory, IGP, PCIe, etc. and you use 6W more than budgetted.
If you want to compare 8W that the Atom chipset combo uses, that it about what a Geode 5536 like mobile NB/SB uses with a Geode NX1500 (an Athlon XP-M at 1GHz). Which runs circles around Atom. Case in point, POV-Ray completes in less than 73 minutes compared to 294 minutes for a 733MHz P3 Celeron, a 3 issue OOE processor, likely twice as fast as a dual issue in order CPU. For the P3 Celeron would have to clock at least (assume linear which is highly doubtful it would be that good) 3Ghz to render in that small a time. 3.3x the performance for perhaps 2W TDP more than a 1.8GHz Atom, both with chipsets.
Then there is the 1GHz Sempron 2100+ S1 (90nm SOI Keene) which uses 9W TDP max (65nm SOI Sherman uses 8W TDPmax) and typically about 5W including a dual channel DDR2 controller. With all the typical stuff on a mini ITX MB with 2 channels of DDR2-667 memory, 2 GbE, 4 SATA and 690G chipset, power usage is 16W TDP max. Far more than is included with Atom and its chipset (2GB DDR2-400/533/667 2-200pin SO-DIMMs memory, 3D Radeon Express 1250 IGP, 2 GbE ports, 4 SATA, PCI slot, PS2 Mouse & KB ports, 4 serial I/O ports, 8 USB 2.0 ports, DVI, VGA and more). POV-ray (64 bit mode) took only 44 minutes. That means the P3 Celeron would have to run 4.9GHz, so that would have about 5.4 times the performance for less than twice the power.
So more power gets you lots more performance.
As for the CPU, although the Geode LX 700 can go 433MHz, the OLPC uses it at 400MHz. So the Atom equivalent would be about 1.52GHz. Still quite a bit of performance for only 2W typical with the Geode 5536 chipset included. And it can still be made with foundries like TSMC or Chartered. For a whole lot less than Atom can be made for.
Geode GX and LX are normally found in embedded applications that go for about $45 for the entire system. Geode NX series is vastly more powerful than Atom, yet is used in systems of about $70 to 100. Low power Keene and Sherman K8 Semprons are used in systems of $100 to $150 including the M690G and MB600. Soon that will change to M740G/80G/90GX with MB700/50. They are way beyond Atom in performance, able to run 64bit Vista Ultimate with all the trimmings.
Pete |
