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Portable Gamer’s Dream: Asus G2 Gaming Notebook Series Review (page 8)

Category: Mobile

by Alexander Britvin

[ 06/01/2007 | 11:15 AM ]

Configuration

The ASUS G2Pb notebook features the Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 processor with a default clock rate of 2.00GHz. This CPU is based on the 65nm Merom core and has 4 megabytes of shared L2 cache memory.

The Core 2 Duo T7200 supports Intel’s 64-bit extensions to the x86 architecture and also features Intel Wide Dynamic Execution technology which means more decoders and execution units in the CPU core. The speed of processing SSE and floating-point instructions has been increased, too.

Besides Intel’s traditional Enhanced SpeedStep technology that gives the notebook’s software and BIOS the control over the CPU frequency multiplier (to reduce it under low loads), this CPU supports Dynamic Power Coordination (the power consumption of the cores can be independently adjusted depending on the current load; one core may even slip into Deep Sleep mode with the lowest power consumption possible) and Dynamic Cache Sizing (unused segments of the CPU cache can be turned off to save power). For more information about Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors refer to our article called Intel Core 2 Duo in Notebooks: Centrino Duo Platform Refreshed.

This implementation of the refresh version of the Napa platform also incorporates an Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG adapter and an Intel Calistoga 945PM chipset. The chipset supports DDR2 SO-DIMMs, thus offering more memory bandwidth at lower power consumption, and a PCI Express x16 interface for an external graphics card. The ICH7-M chip is used as the chipset’s South Bridge. Connected to the North Bridge via a special-purpose Direct Media Interface, the South Bridge supports one Parallel ATA port, two Serial ATA ports, eight USB 2.0 ports and Intel High Definition Audio. It also offers six PCI Express x1 lanes to connect external devices. For more information about the platform, visit the manufacturer’s website.

The crucial feature of the ASUS G2Pb configuration is an ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 graphics core with 512 megabytes of dedicated graphics memory.  

The ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 is nothing else but an improved Mobility Radeon X1600. It is still the same 157-million-transistor chip manufactured on 90nm tech process with strained silicon technology. This improves its power consumption characteristics.

The manufacturer claims the ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 transforms the notebook into a high-performance Windows Vista-ready workstation and gaming machine as well as into a mobile entertainment center. Providing multi-threaded rendering technology for a wide range of 3D applications, the ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 also incorporates an improved Avivo video engine for HD-DVD/H.264 playback acceleration. The GPU also features PowerPlay 6.0 technology for a longer battery life. Running a little ahead, we should say that the graphics subsystem’s power-saving mode is set up rather too aggressively. When the notebook works on its battery, its graphics performance becomes closer to that of an integrated graphics core rather than of a full-featured discrete GPU. For more information about the graphics core’s characteristics, follow this link.