Sam's PCp
- Thread starter samjc3
- Start date
Kyosho
NOT KYO
The amount of RAM isn't everything, though it does indeed help. Here's a comparison of a few of the differences between my old EVGA 7900GS and the first-gen ION:
Core/Shader Clocks: 450/1100 MHz, 500/1380 MHz
Texture Fill Rate: 3.6 Billion/s, 9 Billion/s
RAMDACs: 300MHz, 400MHz
Also, here's some benchmarking I could find of both using the same program (since the 7900GS came out a few years earlier and therefore was benchmarked on mostly older stuff).
3DMark 06 score: 1188, 3625
Now, benchmarking programs aren't always entirely accurate of real-world gaming results. But they usually give you a good idea. Also the 7900GS benchmark was with a AMD Athlon 64 4600+ AM2 @ 2.412GHz while that ION benchmark came from an Atom 230. The memory both systems were running, strangely enough, were the same amount and speed (though not the same brand). So considering all of that, let's knock a good thousand points off the 7900GS score. But even then, it's still more than double.
I'm not trying to be a jerk here or something. I hope you don't get that impression. Dragon Age should have performed better than it did. I can't explain why that was. Hm, though I did play it entirely unpatched back then. Perhaps their patches improved that.
Core/Shader Clocks: 450/1100 MHz, 500/1380 MHz
Texture Fill Rate: 3.6 Billion/s, 9 Billion/s
RAMDACs: 300MHz, 400MHz
Also, here's some benchmarking I could find of both using the same program (since the 7900GS came out a few years earlier and therefore was benchmarked on mostly older stuff).
3DMark 06 score: 1188, 3625
Now, benchmarking programs aren't always entirely accurate of real-world gaming results. But they usually give you a good idea. Also the 7900GS benchmark was with a AMD Athlon 64 4600+ AM2 @ 2.412GHz while that ION benchmark came from an Atom 230. The memory both systems were running, strangely enough, were the same amount and speed (though not the same brand). So considering all of that, let's knock a good thousand points off the 7900GS score. But even then, it's still more than double.
I'm not trying to be a jerk here or something. I hope you don't get that impression. Dragon Age should have performed better than it did. I can't explain why that was. Hm, though I did play it entirely unpatched back then. Perhaps their patches improved that.
samjc3
#1 Female Member
Why do they give these things numbers if they dont mean anything? I dont get it. It would seem logical that a more modern, bigger numbered chip would be more powerful. but it seems not. Nonetheless, it does not matter, as this is what I got, and it works just fine for what Im doing. 
Kyosho
NOT KYO
Because they're stupid. I don't know. Nvidia does that all the time and it drives me crazy. I don't know if ATI does because I've never used their cards. But it's annoying. Nvidia loves to re-release older cards with newer names. For instance, here's a bit of an article on Anandtech about the Geforce GTS 250 I saved back when I bought mine:
Complete. Insanity.
Complete. Insanity.
samjc3
#1 Female Member
Alrighty. Picture time:
Its sitting on my styrene, which, surprisingly, was exactly what I was gonna get from McMaster, but they had it at my local Ace when I picked up some dremel attachments. Slightly more expensive, but very convenient.
Oh, did I mention that this battery weighs 2 pounds, 4 ounces?
Its sitting on my styrene, which, surprisingly, was exactly what I was gonna get from McMaster, but they had it at my local Ace when I picked up some dremel attachments. Slightly more expensive, but very convenient.
Oh, did I mention that this battery weighs 2 pounds, 4 ounces?
samjc3
#1 Female Member
Holy flax. That was, quite literally, the hardest soldering I have ever done. I had my soldering iron all the way up (45 watt) and it was all I could do to get the tabs apart. Didnt help that the little PCB all the tabs hooked to made it really hard to maneuver without shorting out on the iron. My tip is a little oxidized, but nothing so horrible. Still, I'm getting new tips this week. Unfortunately, ratshack doesnt carry Hakko tips. Whatever.
They are huge. But, you cant argue with the capacity or price. Plus its really nice that theres only 4 cells. And they are absolutely perfect in size for integration into my case design. they simply make it it thicker by just a wee bit more than 1/2".XCVG said:
Kyosho
NOT KYO
Nice. Man, I can't wait to see your design. Mine is turning out HUGE because of the stuff I'm using. Yours is going to be, you know, portable. Whereas mine is going to be... toteable? Luggable? Heh. Do you have a general idea of how big yours will be? Maybe in relation to other portables? Mine is like, the size of the hugest gamecube portables you may have seen. Perhaps bigger (yes really).
samjc3
#1 Female Member
A very tentative measurement puts it at about 9x5x2.5". However its not a full brick. The PC, which, currently is about 1" thick, and 5"x7" will be on the back, ala cartslot. The 2.5" thickness includes that. Additionally, I havent pulled my controller apart to see what is inside yet, and I dont have my battery protection circuit yet, so that size may not b entirely accurate. I also think I can shave nearly a 1/4" off the PC's thickness. Hopefully I will have all that ironed out by tuesday.
Kyosho
NOT KYO
Nice. I did a quick measurement. These are very rough mind you. But mine's going to be about 10x8" and around 4" thick. Yep. Uber thick. BUT it's rounded and stuff, so it doesn't too weird. Oh, that doesn't include the "cartridge slot" (PCI-E slot) thing. Add, uh, another inch for that bit. But it's small and at the bottom. Not very practical but should be fun.
It'd be cool if some day we could meet at MGC or something and trade for a few minutes/hours and see how the other half does their gaming.
It'd be cool if some day we could meet at MGC or something and trade for a few minutes/hours and see how the other half does their gaming.
samjc3
#1 Female Member
Posting from it running on battery right now. Running both screen (which runs fine on ~15v) and PC. Gonna play some Mass Effect now to see what I can see.
Bit of an odd thing though. When I first wired it up, it refused to turn on. wouldnt give voltage off the load pins on the PCB. I assumed it was because it needed load to output. However, My PC, like all, doesnt power on when plugged in. It uses a momentary tact for power. I couldnt get it to turn on. So then I dicked with it a bit, hardwired the screen, which didnt work either, etc. Then I hooked my screen to B+ just to make sure it worked on the voltage. Then when I rewired to P+, everything worked. I dont get it. Anyways, it works now, so I am happy.
Bit of an odd thing though. When I first wired it up, it refused to turn on. wouldnt give voltage off the load pins on the PCB. I assumed it was because it needed load to output. However, My PC, like all, doesnt power on when plugged in. It uses a momentary tact for power. I couldnt get it to turn on. So then I dicked with it a bit, hardwired the screen, which didnt work either, etc. Then I hooked my screen to B+ just to make sure it worked on the voltage. Then when I rewired to P+, everything worked. I dont get it. Anyways, it works now, so I am happy.
Similar threads
