Acer Ferrari 3200 review (just a few pics/couple benches) - Page 6

Even after reading AMD's reasons regards their 'naming' of their Athlon processors I still find it odd that they essentially give a "1.8GHz" CPU a numerical name of "2800+", with which Acer then put it into a notebook and call it a Ferrari "3200"...

I sometimes lose track of what the craic is, sometimes...

yeah that would be pretty nice if it was the 3200+, then there just wouldn't be any comparison. i'm still kinda skeptical of the centrino idea, despite how friggin nice it looks/is, while the A64s are definitely proven and generally accepted as the best processor out there...i think.

that was a desktop amd they tested

those benchmarks are a lil silly coz they are trying to do a cpu comparison in gaming benchmarks when the graphic card is different on each platform...

some are 9700s, some are 9600s, and some are mobile gpus some are desktop gpus!!

you'd be better off comparing the dothans to the a64-M procs (2800+) rather than the 3200+ chips, and like rince said keeping all the other components as similar as possible.

while the A64s are definitely proven and generally accepted as the best processor out there...i think

okle that's a pretty generic statement, and not really even true in some cases. i would check out this thread, it evaluates the gaming performance of the two different chips on a relatively equal playing field (same gpu / components):
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=28483

Will the Ferrari accept DDR400 memory?

yup, it'll accept ddr400 since it's a mobile. and sorry about the bluntness, aikeo. it just seems to me that in terms of general computing (not exactly notebook computing), the A64 seemed to be a bit better than the p4. but maybe that's changed now because of the new LGA775 design, i dunno personally, but if i was wrong, i am genuinely sorry about it.

no sweat man-- i was just commenting that the difference between a64/p4 and even a64/dothan is marginal all things considered because not much stuff can take full advantage of 64-bit-ness... yet.

the future of software will make the a64s better than the pentiums, for sure

ok, so if i'm right, the game performance are pretty much the same on the A64 cpu and the dothan cpu.

so: next question is: should I get an A64 of the dothan cpu for best performance in graphics programs like: photoshop, illustrator, etc... ? I was thinking of the A64, because 64bit will be the future...

that is true, but the 2800+ is going to become like a 386 once 64bit with windows becomes mainstream because it will have been designed too long ago to really take advantage of what is to be offered when 64bit becomes the norm. but for now, it's your best bet if you don't mind losing an hour or two of batt life over, say, a cl56, IMO.

i guess, but if you can barely take advantage of the 64 bit now and (according to your logic) never will be adequately able to in the future, what is the point of losing this hour or two of batt life over a similarly priced Dothan? =D

We'll have tons of 64 bit options later this year and almost everything will have a 64 bit version by Q2 next year. There will be plenty to take advantage of in the average notebook lifespan. I plan to use my 3200 for 3-4 years, although I wil upgrade the processor/hard drive/RAM occasionally. Of course they will be 386's, but that will be long after we've already bought new laptops. Dothan's are coming out of the factory near the end of their lifespans. AMD 64's are coming out in their infancies.

just curious, what's coming out later this year that's going to make intensive use of 64 bit?

Hi,

Is the CPU upgradeable; that is, is there a socket, or is it soldered to the motherboard?

Anyone knows where can I buy a so-dimm pc3200 512MB for Ferrari 3200?Thanks!

huh? Windows XP 64-bit beta has been available for a long time already and the final version will be shipping within a few months, and I can guarantee you that the 2800+ will run it like a charm. And there's no need to wait for 64-bit apps to take full advantage of it, since 32-bit apps in fact also run faster & smoother on the 64-bit OS compared to the regular Windows XP

Please stop the FUD!

A 64-bit optimized version of FarCry to mention one thing:
http://www.amd.com/farcry

But that's not all, gaming wise:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Weblets/0,,...~83956,00.html

“Zombie is migrating towards 64-bit tools for game development because it gives us unprecedented power to create dynamic, beautiful worlds and new game play with real-time physics, more interactive objects, more shaders and real-time lights,” said John Williamson, president of Zombie, Inc. “AMD64 architecture lets developers like us build and compile faster, paint in real time on 3D models and tweak in real time. For consumers, 64 bits gives both more memory to load polygons and textures and more power to manipulate them, accessing unprecedented levels of realism, interactivity and detail in their worlds.”

Crytek, Epic Games and Valve Software are currently developing their top titles on AMD64 platform-based servers and workstations for maximum processing power and bandwidth, and ultimately enhanced game play.

“We are sure that the CryENGINE will use each and every bit of PC hardware to its maximum capacity, so we see AMD64 gaming as an enormous win for the industry,” said Cevat Yerli, president and CEO, Crytek. “It has opened up endless possibilities, offering better performance for dynamic and emergent dimensions of game play. AMD64 is the premier platform for the gaming industry.”

“We're really thrilled with the leadership role AMD has taken in introducing 64-bit technology into mainstream computing,” said Tim Sweeney, Epic Games. “Our upcoming 64-bit version of Unreal Tournament 2004 is just the first step in our adoption of the new architecture, and we are already well underway in developing next-generation tools and technology that do things wholly impossible on 32-bit platforms.”

“Valve has created and maintained a 64-bit port of our CounterStrike servers, and the AMD64 version runs much faster for us than the 32-bit version when we do a clock-by-clock comparison,” said Gabe Newell, Valve managing director. “Steampowered.com is running on an AMD64 machine and we have achieved a 35% performance improvement and the ability to host more than we would on a 32-bit system.”

In addition, Jolt and Super Computer International, two of the leading game hosting companies, are extensively using AMD Opteron processors to maximize the multiplayer gaming experience. Havok, a top physics middleware, is beginning to develop for AMD64 to enable customers, partners and users to experience more powerful 64-bit physics capabilities.

35% better performance with identical clocks! I was expecting 10-20% for most apps. I will be nice to see how many other apps get huge boosts like this.

Isn't a new 64 bit Doom coming as well? Most of my gaming is EMU, so hopefully my favorite emulators get a big performance gain. Don't really need it though, the 3200 already has more power than my EMU's need.

uhh... the numbers you quote mostly are for gaming. it's relatively common knowledge that future 64bit games will run much better on 64bit machines. i wanted more hard numbers for 64-bit Appz.

64bit version of xp sounds good, but i'd like to see some numbers in how this improves performance in apps i would use on a daily basis. i was under the impression that i'd have to wait for longhorn to see much 64bit functionality in windows.

Anyone here make music?

.... All these comments (and many quoted tests/benchmarks) sound great... If you're a gamer.

I know I'm more concerned with how many VST plugin instances you can run at any one time, personally! I couldn't give a rat's ass about how many Frames Per Second can be achieved in 'alf-Life, Quake or whatnot. If the graphics card can support high resolutions and a dual monitor function then that is almost all I that I'lll [personally] ask of that part of the computer.

I'm significantly and primarily more interested in the extremely intensive and sustained realtime number crunching that modern computer music production (and I'd imagine video production for the film-engineers out there) calls upon, rather than how many pretty little colours, twixels, and 0.13 micron-terra-pica two-shillings-and-t'uppence hyper multi-colour rainbow shaded mega-gigaflopplets with X/Y and Z triple-buffered nibnob antisotropic wibble wobblers™, that it can do, thankye ve'y much.

Ta.

Interesting what another said about the Dothan being released at almost the end of the primarily 32-Bit supported (by Microshaft/Windoze) lifespan... Very true. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if the chips were cheaper, rather than the currently extortionately expensive cutting-edge 2.0GHz 755.

I guess we'll have to see what transpires in the next year or so...

Maybe it's kind of a strange question, but is it possible to play 64-bit improved games at a 32-bit Windows XP ?