We've complained about overheat problems on AMD notebook processors, well now it's all history. With the introduction of their new 'vision platform' processors, I believe they may have just turned the tables. :-)
AMD introduced a bunch of multicore processors to prevent a possible extinction from mobile processor market. Looking at the processor specs and what was seen on forums, I was just curious to see what they look like. I very much wanted to buy HP DV 6 3050 with N930 but sadly it's not available in Australia. However, I managed to buy a machine with AMD N 930 Quad Core 2 GHz processor.
What surprised me was the processor temperature, which never crossed 57 C mark, when running multiple heavy applications, stressing the processor. Such as compiling the kernel while running two JBoss instances, eclipse ide, MySQL, PostgreSQL along other default servers and services. The cooling fan doesn't spin like a wild donkey causing an irritating buzz but very very quite. Take my word on this ;-)
I've been using this laptop for almost a week now and truly impressed with the power it offers. This is well ahead when compared with Intel processors in terms of power for wattage + value for money. The processor performs really well when you run applications which utilise all four cores.
I've had a few Intel C2D laptops. A Core2Duo 1.86 GHz, another Core2Duo 2.2 GHz C2D (T7500) with 4MB cache per each core. All suffered overheat problems. The only success I've had with Intel was with Lenovo T 61, the same T7500 processor.
Most laptop manufacturers integrate AMD processors in their low end range. These low budget laptops come with a poor built quality resulting overheat due to lack of ventilation and bad design. As a matter of fact, AMD processors suffered down the line than what was due. I have seen both Intel and AMD suffering from this and what was given above was a perfect example.
I have used over 10 laptops during the last 3-4 years. All I could say is, AMD has finally delivered a good laptop for for the hard core developers... ;-)
Hi,
ReplyDeletei know I am commenting on this blog after 1.5 year of its creation. just would like to know if n930 is still considered a good processor. i am developer as well and will be working on VS2010 mostly. any tips, the laptop i m into is HP dv6-3142ea.
Thanks for your time
Please accept my apologies for the delayed response. My blogging time was hijacked by a few other things. ;-)
DeleteIt's been two years since I've purchased a laptop with N30 processor and I do my software development work on that. It works fine to date.. Having said that, now it's a bit too late to pick a processor with N930. It stays behind a couple generations.