Intel's Centrino Duo and Centrino Pro Santa Rosa chipsets go live
By Paul Miller 
posted May 9th 2007 1:35PM
posted May 9th 2007 1:35PM
If you haven't noticed by now, the laptop industry is going Santa Rosa crazy today, and for good reason: Intel's next-gen chipset is officially "out" as of now, following up the Napa / Yonah combo of last year. Intel is sticking with the Core 2 Duo "Merom" processor for the time being, but is releasing new, faster versions that take advantage of Santa Rosa's faster front-side bus, which is up at 800MHz, compared to 667MHz of prior versions. The new processors are odd-numbered to set them apart, and include the 1.8GHz T7100, 2GHz T7300, 2.2GHz T7500, 2.4GHz T7700, 1.4GHz L7300 and 1.6GHz L7500 -- with the latter two being low-voltage versions. As seen on many of the models announced today, or leaked in the recent weeks, the new Intel 965 Express Chipset includes more than the FSB goodies, with support for the new DirectX 10 and Vista-friendly Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics and the Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN 802.11n chip. That's the gist of the consumer-oriented Centrino Duo, while the Centrino Pro adds in a Gigabit Network Connection that supports remote wake-up over WiFi. Unfortunately, while the processors and front-side bus are all ready to go, laptop memory is still stuck at 667MHz, and Intel hasn't made it clear whether the Santa Rosa platforms will be able to handle the 800MHz memory due to launch later this year.
Intel's Turbo Memory, an optional feature in the new Centrino platforms == Onboard Nand Drive for Cache
Does anyong know if the robson (intel turbo memory) works on Napa/Yona platform? I saw that T61 has an option for it, and it uses a mini-PCIe slot. I know my laptop (latitude D420) has an extra mini-PCIe slot.
I've wondered that myself, since it would seem physically possible to retrofit the card to the 2nd mini-PCIe slot (if you don't have a WWAN card) on many Dells.
Hooray for Socket P!
Some "politically correct" statement from the Intel live chat to my question regarding the GMA X3100 capabilities ....
"Question: Could you please tell me if the Intel GMA X3100 is Directx 10 enabled? --- Answer: As the DX10 ecosystem evolves, Intel is evaluating DX10 for X3100 in the future. Please stay tuned. "
Laptop memory being stuck at DDR2-667 is not a big deal if your laptop supports dual channel memory. Dual channel DDR667 is, after all, what 1333FSB desktops use.
Any laptop which supports a 667FSB or 800FSB Core 2 Duo supports dual core, and only the cheapest configurations are going to have only one socket used. Part of that second channel is going to go to shared memory for video (or to partial shared memory on discrete graphics solutions), but it should still be adequate to keep the processor fully fed.
That's true now with 667FSB laptops with DDR2-533 memory (as long as you're dual channel) where the speed boost going to DDR2-667 is quite small, and it should be true (pending benchmarks) on the newer round of 800FSB Core 2 Duos. If you have discrete graphics, even dual channel DDR533 will probably be able to keep a 800FSB processor fed.