Code Name: Santa Rosa On May 9th, 2007, just over 4 years after the initial Centrino platform launch, the Intel Santa Rosa platform debuted as the follow-on to their Sonoma platform. Included in the Santa Rosa platform is a change to the second generation Intel Core 2 Duo (Merom) processor with a Socket P interface, a new chipset (the Intel Mobile 965 Express), an increase in front side bus, higher end chipset graphics, a new wireless link with draft n support, and Intel's Turbo Memory (formerly known as Robson). It's hard to believe just how far Intel has been able to push both the platform's performance level and it's success in the marketplace.   Platform Centrino (Carmel) Centrino (Sonoma) Centrino (Napa) Centrino Pro (Santa Rosa) Released March 2003 January 2005 March 2006 May 2007 Chipset 855 Mobile 915 Mobile 945 Express Mobile 965 Express CPU Pentium M (Banias / Dothan) Pentium M (Dothan) Core Solo, Core Duo, Core 2 (Yonah / Merom) Core 2 Duo (Merom) Graphics Extreme Graphics 2 GMA 900 GMA 950 X3100 Wireless PRO/Wireless 2100 PRO/Wireless 2200 PRO/Wireless 2200 PRO/Wireless 2915ABG PRO/Wireless 3945ABG PRO/Wireless 4965AGN CPU Support The new Santa Rosa platform utilizes a Socket P interface for it's CPU. The Socket P, like the previous Socket M has 478 pins, but they are keyed slightly differently meaning that they are not pin-compatible. The only processors currently supported on the Santa Rosa platform are the Core 2 Duo T7100, T7300, T7500, and T7700. All of the compatible CPUs run at an 800MHz. front side bus, and are able to down-clock on the fly in order to save power. The new CPUs also run up to 2.4GHz, which is slightly faster than the NAPA platform supported (more on CPU support below). Centrino Duo Vs. Centrino Pro There has been some confusion as of late as to what the difference is between Intel's Centrino Duo and their Centrino Pro Technology. While the two technologies are very similar in their specifications, the main difference lies in hardware and software which aims the Centrino Pro squarely at the Business market segment while leaving the Centrino Duo for the more home and casual market.   Centrino Duo Centrino Pro 800MHz. FSB X3100 Integrated Graphics Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN Intel 82566MM and 82566MC Gigabit Network Connection   Active Management 2.5   The Intel 82566MM and 82566MC Gigabit Network connection in combination with the Intel Active Management Technology version 2.5 (a required component of vPro) allows IT departments to remotely access the computer and manage it without having to make a desk side visit. Please see our October 2006 newsletter vPro article for more detailed information. North Bridge Intel's new965 Express (Crestline) Chipsets offer several notable enhancements over it's Calistoga predecessor. The PM965 and GM965 chipsets are identical with the exception of the GM965 having the X3100 graphics that you will read about below. The new chipsets have been optimized for Vista from the ground up. Supporting Intel's Core 2 Duo processor with a 667 or 800MHz. FSB. The new north bridge also supports up to 4GB of DDR2 533 or 667 MHz. SODIMM memory in single or dual channel mode. With these upgrades, the computing power which is required to operate Vista smoothly and efficiently is more readily available than ever. Intel GMA X3100 (Mobile version of the GMA X3000) With the introduction of the X3100 GPU into their latest Mobile Chipsets, Intel is moving into territory that it hasn't been before. The mere act of integrating higher end graphics which allow the users to play games with hardware texture and lighting (T&L) enabled makes them a serious contender in the gamers market. For the most part, Intel has always had the majority share of graphics chips in the business market due to their rock solid integrated graphics on it's desktop boards. Integrated VGA, audio, and LAN are all very good selling points for overloaded IT departments who would much rather build systems with "all-in-one" boards instead of trying to piece things together at a higher cost and with bigger headaches. In this case, the addition of providing Windows Vista Premium support with the highest level of Windows Aero experience and fully supporting Microsoft DirectX 10 will help them smoothly transition over to the home and gamer market where they haven't been used as much in the past as discreet VGA vendors have. Comparison vs. previous mobile chipset (GMA 950) Graphics Core GMA 950 GMA X3100 Chipset 945G, 945GZ GM965 Express Hardware T&L no yes Clock speed (MHz) 400 500 Floating point operations / render target n/a 16 and 32 bit floating point Vertex shader model 3.0 (software) 3.0 (hardware) Pixel shader model 2.0 3.0 Pipelines 4 8 (unified) Peak memory bandwidth (GB/s) 10.6 12.8 Max dynamic video memory (MB) 224 384 OpenGL API support 1.4 + ARB extensions 1.5 DirectX API support 9.0c 10.0 Intel Clear Video Technology No Yes Intel Clear Video Technology Intel's Clear Video Technology comes at a time when the digital media age is really starting to come home for many people. With the number of people who are now adding Media Center machines to their home theater set-ups, having high end video is of key importance now more than ever. With Intel's Clear Video Technology you can experience enhanced high-definition playback on your system without having to add in expensive video cards or decoders. Utilizing dedicated hardware inside of the chipset, Intel can provide sharper image quality and precise color control to your digital display. Ranging from your laptop screen all the way up to big screen 1080p TV's, Intel's new technology allows you to enjoy crisp smooth images whether you're on the go, or sitting at home. Intel Clear Video Technology Specifications MPEG-2 decode iDCT + motion compensation. Up to 2 stream support (1 HD and 1 SD) De-interlacing Advanced pixel adaptive (SD/HD-1080i) Color control ProcAmp: brightness, hue, saturation, contrast Display support (through SDVO) HDMI, DVI, component, composite, S-Video, HDTV (1080i/p, 720p), TV-out, dual independent display) Native display support VGA Video scaling 4 x 4 scaling Dynamic display modes Flat-panel, wide-screen, digital TV Aspect ratio 16:9, 4:3, letterbox Maximum resolution support 2048 x 1536 at 75 Hz, RGB (QXGA) Operating systems support Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP, Windows XP 64-bit, Media Center Edition, Windows 2000, Linux-compatible (Xfree86 source available)

Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile Processors for "Santa Rosa" Platform:
 
The Intel Core™ 2 Duo Mobile processor family just got bigger with four new members joining the lineup: the T7700, T7500, T7300, and T7100. They run at clock speeds from 2.40 GHz all the way down to 1.80 GHz. The T7100 is equipped with a 2MB L2 cache and the other three T7x00 models have a 4MB L2 cache. All four of these new mobile processors use Intel's 65 nm manufacturing technology packing 291M transistors into a die size of approximately 143mm².

Unlike the previous Core™ 2 Duo "Merom" processors which utilize a 667 MHz front-side bus, these new "Santa Rosa" processors sport an 800 MHz FSB. The packaging is also different  in that these new Merom 800's now fit into what is called "Socket-P" and have 478 pins. These processors will not work in existing "Napa" notebooks nor will the Socket-M 479-pin Merom 667's fit into the new Socket-P. These Core™ 2 Duo processors voltage draw ranges from 1.0375V to 1.3V, are rated at 35W thermal design power (TDP), and have a thermal specification of 100°C.

Besides the upgraded 800 MHz Front-Side Bus which gives you a 20% performance boost and Socket-P packaging, there are a couple of other technology changes to the Core™ 2 Duo Mobile processor for the Santa Rosa platform => Intel® Dynamic Acceleration (IDA), Intel® Dynamic Front Side Bus Frequency Switching and Enhanced Intel® Deeper Sleep.

Intel® Dynamic Acceleration technology allows single-threaded applications to execute faster. When a single-threaded application is running, the CPU can turn off one of the CPU cores and overclock the active core. In this way the CPU maintains the same Thermal Profile as it would when both cores are active. While one core is inactive, Dynamic Acceleration allows one of the processor cores to temporarily operate at a higher frequency point (known as the "IDA" frequency) than the rated or "guaranteed" processor frequency (know as the Highest Frequency Mode or HFM) when the operating system requests increased performance. For example with the T7700 that has an HFM of 2.40 GHz, when a single-threaded application is running, the 2nd core will shut down and the 1st core upshifts to the "IDA" frequency of 2.60 GHz for added performance without increasing the overall thermals.

Intel® Dynamic Front Side Bus Frequency Switching technology allows the FSB to be underclocked in order to save power / battery life. Previously, Core™ 2 Duo Mobile processors operated in Low Frequency Mode (LFM) when set for reduced-power operation, but the FSB was kept at full speed. By cutting the FSB speed in half to 400 MHz the Santa Rosa notebooks should be able to save more power than ever before. Intel refers to this combination of chip and FSB underclocking as Super Low Frequency Mode, or SLFM.

The operating system can also take advantage of the new Enhanced Intel® Deeper Sleep state feature and request a lower operating point (Super Low Frequency Mode) that has a processor frequency of 800 MHz and takes the place of the legacy Lowest Frequency Mode or LFM as the lowest voltage and frequency point. The Enhanced Intel® Deeper Sleep extends power-saving capabilities by allowing the processor to further reduce core voltage once the L2 cache has been completely shut down. See chart below and look at the column titled "Speed in GHz" to see all the different operating processor frequencies supported as a result of Intel® Dynamic Acceleration (IDA), Intel® Dynamic Front Side Bus Frequency Switching and Enhanced Intel® Deeper Sleep technologies:

ASI SKU	Processor Number	Clock Speed	Cache Size L2	Front Side Bus	Speed in GHz  IDA / HFM / LFM /SLFM	Intel® VT	Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology	Intel® 64	sSpec#
60886	T7700	2.40 GHz	4MB	800 MHz	2.60, 2.40, 1.20, 0.80				SLA43
60885	T7500	2.20 GHz	4MB	800 MHz	2.40, 2.20, 1.20, 0.80				SLA44
60884	T7300	2.00 GHz	4MB	800 MHz	2.20, 2.00, 1.20, 0.80				SLA45
60883	T7100	1.80 GHz	2MB	800 MHz	2.00, 1.80, 1.20, 0.80				SLA4A

 
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Mobile Processors for "Santa Rosa" Platform - Advanced Innovations:

• Power-Optimized 800 MHz Front Side Bus - Increased processor system bus speed, providing increased bandwidth, vs. prior generations, for up to 20 percent faster data transfer rate compared to 667MHz helping meet the requirements of demanding applications. 

• Intel® Dynamic Acceleration (IDA) - Allows one processor core to deliver extra performance during execution of single threaded applications when the other core is idle. This feature uses the power headroom freed up when a core is made inactive to boost the performance of another still active core.  

• Intel® Dynamic Front Side Bus Frequency Switching - Decreases power needed by the Front Side Bus at minimal workloads, by reducing CPU frequency allows a lower operating voltage. 

• Intel® Dynamic Power Coordination - Coordinates Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology and idle power-management state (C-states) transitions of each independent core, allowing one core to be at maximum performance while the second core can idle into a sleep state to help save power. 

• Intel® Dynamic Bus Parking - Enables platform power savings and improved battery life by allowing the chipset to power down with the processor in low-frequency mode states.   

• Enhanced Intel® Deeper Sleep with Dynamic Cache Sizing - Extends power-saving capabilities by further reducing processor core voltage when the L2 cache is off. Saves power by flushing cache data to system memory during periods of inactivity to lower CPU voltage. 

• Advanced Power Gating - Allows parts of the CPU core to be shut down even during periods of high performance execution to optimize performance per watt.  

• Split Bus Array - Many buses and arrays are split so data required in some modes of operation can be put in a low-power state when not needed for improved power savings.

We covered the new Intel Core™ micro-architecture extensively in our September 2006 ASI Technical Newsletter article and can be found online Here if you need a quick refresher on the main features of Core™. The Core™ 2 Duo mobile processors differ from the desktop Core™ 2 Duo's (Conroe) with regards to following specialized mobile technologies and are tuned for power savings.

Now with the 8600 and 8500 cards, the video processing load will be completely handled by the GPU, allowing the CPU to handle other computations and avoid frame rate drops during video playback. This feature is especially appealing to users who are pairing these cards with midrange CPUs that would be stressed when decoding HD video, and NVIDIA's press package depicts their lower end cards as perfect companions with the 650i SLI or deluxe for multimedia systems. As you can see in the illustrations the 8600 and 8500 are accelerating 2 additional steps in the decode procedure compared to the GeForce 7 series.

In gaming performance is paramount and the GeForce 8800 is still extremely competent for HD video playback. Nvidia has implemented a set of dedicated video processing engines integrated onto the same piece of silicon as the 3D engine – this is the same as with VP1, but with VP2, Nvidia has also included a dedicated HD.264 bitstream processors. These two features combined allow the new Video Processor 2 engine to completely offload HD.264 decoding from the CPU  to the video processors – a first in the PC video card. Because VP2 is able to accelerate all four stages of the HD.264 decoding process, you should see good improvements over previous graphics card.

• Full support for both Microsoft® DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 for unparalleled levels of graphics realism and performance
• NVIDIA PureVideo HD² technology provides unsurpassed Blu-ray and HD DVD movie picture quality
• NVIDIA 8 Series graphics processors are essential for accelerating the best Microsoft Windows Vista experience

• Ghost Recon: Advanced War Fighter
• Single DVI port converter
• S-video cables
• 4 pin Molex to PCIe power adapter.
• Driver CD / User Manual

EVGA 8600GTS Series

BFG is just one of the NVIDIA video card partners that is well known for the performance of their overclocked graphics cards. Here is the card that we are going to have a look at, their lower cost DirectX 10 graphics card called the BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card series. This card is the higher performance entry level DirectX 10 graphics card recently released by BFG. For all the 8600 GTS graphics cards series on the market, the BFG 8600 GTS OC (over-clocked) Graphics Card shares the same feature set.

The BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card is built for Microsoft Vista, is fully DirectX 10 compliant and can support NVIDIA SLI technology with a compatible main board. For all the 8000 series cards, the BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card uses fully unified shader architecture, Giga-Thread technology, the NVIDIA Lumenex engine, Quantum effects technology, uses the new PureVideo HD engine and is HDCP capable. Here is the BFG 8600 GTS OC Graphics Card series. The BFG 8600 GTS OC has a core clock speed of 710MHz and a memory clock of 2000MHz for the 256MB of GDDR3 memory.