[Pc_Support] AMD Turion x2 (Xpress 1100) v. Intel Core (945GM) ... surprising!

[Bryan J. Smith]

Damien McKenna wrote:
> It seems the key reason is that the Core2Duo really benefits from the
> increased system bandwidth that the desktop chipset, which the laptop
> chipset won't support until early next year.

Yeah, even the 950 doesn't help at all, which makes the Turion x2 a
solid buy right now -- unless you're using your notebook for largely
DVD playback (like on an airplane) which Intel's integrated
power/video advantage clearly shows.

I guess there are some tricks to the 965/975 in reducing memory
latency and other interconnect benefits.  Then again, I'd like to see
this done again, on Linux.  The Xpress 1100 is supposed to be better
supported in Linux just after its release than the Xpress 200 was --
especially with the new southbridge peripheral logic.

If ATI keeps it up and AMD integrates more and more, I might have to
switch my preference to ATI from nVidia.  We'll see, especially if AMD
is able to solve some of the IP issues with its _true_ system
interconnect with GPU with peer CPU architecture and open up the
kernel driver -- which is a distinct possibility, unlike Intel's
"software hacks" to emulate GPU as a CPU peer.