In March 2003, Intel released the Centrino mobile technology, Intel Centrino Mobile Technology is not the previous processor, chipset, such as a single product form, which represents a complete range of mobile computing solutions, the composition of the Centrino is divided into three parts: Pentium M processor, 855/ The 915 series chipset and the Intel Pro Wireless network, three are indispensable together to form the Centrino mobile technology.
Pentium M first revision called Dothan
In more than two years, Centrino technology has undergone a revision and a replacement. The core code for the Pentium M processor in the initial Centrino is Bannis, using 130 nm technology, 1MB high Speed two cache, 400MHz front-end bus. Centrino first revised in May 2004, the 90 nm process Dothan core Pentium M processor appears, its two-level cache capacity to provide 2MB, the front-end bus is still 400MHz, which is what we often say Dothan Centrino. After the first revision, Dothan core Pentium M processor quickly occupied the market, Bannis core products gradually out of the mainstream. Although the Dothan core is popular in the market as the Centrino II generation, but Intel officials did not give a clear definition, still known as Centrino. That is, at the same time as Dothan Pentium M, Intel has changed the practice of defining processor numbers by frequency, replacing them with a series of numbers, such as Pentium M 715/725, which correspond to the 1.5GHz and 1.6GHz frequencies respectively. In the first revision, the original 802.11B wireless network card also changed to support the 802.11B/G specification, network transmission from 11Mbps to 14Mbps.
New Generation Centrino Sonoma
The new generation of Centrino is January 19, 2005, Intel is officially released next new Centrino Mobile technology based on Sonoma platform, its component, Pentium M processor upgrade to Dothan Core, 90 nanometer technology, 533MHz front side bus and 2MB high speed two level cache, processor number by Pentium M 730-770, the frequency from 1.60GHz onwards, the highest 2.13GHz. The 915GM/PM chipset allows Centrino to enter the Pci-e era, where 915GM integrates the Intel GMA900 graphics engine, allowing for a significant improvement in the multimedia performance of the stand-alone graphics notebook. 915PM/GM also supports single channel DDR333 or dual-channel DDR2 400/533mhz memory, which provides performance while also reducing partial power consumption. The current Sonoma platform of the new generation of Centrino gradually become the mainstream market.
Centrino second generation
The new Intel Centrino Mobile technology platform (code-named Sonoma), which is a pentiumm processor of the 90nm process Dothan core (2MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB), a new Aviso chipset, The new wireless Module CALEXICO2 (Intel Pro/Wireless 2915ABG or 2200BG Wireless LAN component) consists of three main components.
Added new technology: The new Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 graphics core, energy-saving 533MHz front-side bus, and dual-channel DDR2 memory support help to achieve double graphics performance improvements with a mobile Intel 915GM Express Chipset system with integrated graphics. In addition, the new Intel Centrino Mobile technology also supports the latest PCI Express graphics interface, which provides up to 4 times times the graphics bandwidth for high-end systems with discrete graphics. With the support of the system manufacturer, you can also obtain options such as TV tuner, Intel High-definition Audio, personal video and remote control, which support Dolby Digital and 7.1 surround sound, while continuing to enjoy the durability battery usage time advantages of Intel Centrino Mobile technology calculations. Features that can help manufacturers achieve durable battery use include: Display energy-saving 2.0, Low-power DDR2 memory support, and enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology.
1. The new Pentiumm Processor: The Dothan processor introduces many of the features of a more mature NetBurst architecture based on Banias, and adds enhanced data Prefecher (advanced prefetch) and enhanced Register Data retrieval (high-level records) two new technologies.
There are three major changes in the Dothan processor compared to the Banias kernel product. First, the production process has been upgraded from 0.13 microns to a new 90 nm, creating smaller, faster transistors, so the Dothan processor is basically the same size and power consumption as the Banias adds a cache. Secondly, the new "strain silicon" material technology is used in Dothan. According to Intel testing, the strain of silicon in the flow of electrons faster than the current other silicon materials, so that the frequency of Dothan has been greatly improved, the current maximum has reached 2.13G. In addition, the Dothan two cache has been upgraded to 2MB, with approximately the same energy consumption, compared to the original Banias Pentium-m processor performance of about 20%. Dothan CPU in many ways to achieve energy saving purposes, its two cache using 8-way joint operation mode, and each road is divided into 4 power areas, due to the processor in the process of working at the same time can only use one of the power consumption area, Therefore, the use of proprietary stack management technology to shut down the current can not be used to the power of the region, thereby greatly reducing the level two cache power. In addition, the Dothan CPU supports the new enhanced SpeedStep energy-saving technology, which is entirely done by the processor's voltage-tuning mechanism, and is not related to the chipset. The operation of switching between these modes is all automatic, according to the load of the processor at that time, so that the energy consumption situation can be precisely controlled to achieve more energy-saving purposes.
2. New Aviso chipset: The core of the Sonoma platform in addition to the Dothan CPU, more critical is the Alviso (915PM/915GM) chipset, including many of the latest technology, in addition to supporting the PCI Express bus architecture, Also includes support for Low-power DDR-2 memory and a new EG3 graphics core, in addition, Alviso chipset also with the mobile bridge code-named Ich6-m Chip, can provide four serial ATA hard drive interface, and integrates the new generation Azalia sound chip with the brand-new ExpressCard external extension interface. "Sonoma" as a "Centrino (Centrino)" Alternative product, its wireless, display and audio functions have been further improved, the calculation speed also increased by about 30%.
The PCI Express bus will completely replace the AGP bus and the PCI bus on the Alviso chipset. This is the most gratifying progress, and no longer have to be bothered by the bottleneck of data transmission. The huge increase of bandwidth can not be neglected in video processing and multimedia production. PCI Express Bus also has the characteristics of low power consumption, for notebooks is also quite critical. At the same time, the new system will also be paired with High-performance, Low-power ddrii memory, and support dual channel, will be able to provide maximum 8.4g/s bandwidth, which can meet the future development of the processor for a long time, while the integration of the performance of the graphics also has great benefits. With the Sonoma platform, Intel will launch the "Extreme Graphics 3" Integrated display chip, hardware support PS 2.0 and VS 2.0 and DirectX 9, while also using special power management technology to reduce power consumption, Allows users to choose between performance and power consumption. And the new memory integration package mode, the display core and video memory on the same substrate, the advantage of this is to improve the memory with the core data exchange speed, and effectively reduce the volume.
The most significant advantage of the "Azalia" sound technology integrated on the Sonoma mobile platform is the ability to perform parallel processing and standardize the architecture. The Azalia technology supports 32bit/192khz's audio sampling rate and 7.1-channel output. In addition, Azalia uses a unified bus driver for control because any Azalia audio device can use the same driver. Azalia Sound technology will bring an unprecedented audio effect to the laptop, with the increasingly strong performance of mobile display technology, will make the use of notebook games become a pleasure.
The PCMCIA card, which has been in the Sonoma mobile platform for years, will change a lot. With the popularity of High-bandwidth video and network applications, the traditional PCMCIA PC card is increasingly not adapted to this situation. There is an urgent need for a new technology to replace. ExpressCard is a technology that will be lighter, thinner, faster and easier to use than the traditional PC card technology. In addition to the EXPRESSCARD34 for laptops, there is a ExpressCard54 for desktop computers, which bridges the laptop to the desktop. Because ExpressCard achieves a more ideal balance between the dimensions, performance, reliability, adaptability, hot-swappable, and automatic settings, it is likely to replace the PC card that has been in use for many years.
3. New Wireless Module CALEXICO2: One of the most important trends in mobile computing is the large-scale promotion of wireless local area network (Wi-Fi) applications. One of the core elements of Intel Centrino technology that supports wireless connectivity. However, compared to the Dothan processor and Alviso chipset, the CALEXICO2 wireless module is significantly less technical innovation, because the same technology in fact as early as two years ago, the emergence of independent products, Intel simply integrates it into the Sonoma mobile platform, and named it Calexico2.
On the Sonoma Mobile platform, the wireless communication module, which is an important part of Centrino technology, configures the latest CALEXICO2 wireless communication module and adds support for IEEE 802.11a/g two wireless technologies on the basis of support for IEEE 802.11b. ieee802.11a work in the 5.0GHz band, you can easily avoid interference from the 2.4GHz band. In addition to the frequency bands, the IEEE 802.11A adopts an improved information coding method, which allows the transmission speed to reach 54Mbps. IEEE 802.11g technology has both the features of IEEE 802.11a and the IEEE 802.11b feature. IEEE 802.11g works under the 2.4GHz band, which achieves the purpose of IEEE 802.11B compatibility, but IEEE 802.11g uses the same information encoding as the IEEE 802.11a, which also makes the transmission frequency up to 54Mbps.
Current 1/2 page
12 Next read the full text
