[dba-Tech] Laptop Recommendation

I'm not sure about the overheating problem, but I do know that until this last computer I built, EVERY computer I built that had an AMD chip on the board REQUIRED an external battery. Don't know why, but it sucked the onboard battery dry within 2-3 months. The only way to keep the system date and time correct was to add an external battery. The chip I have now doesn't do that, so either I magically got the bad chip of every batch or something.

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 3:09 PM
To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'
Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Laptop Recommendation


Yep, this is true with the older AMDs.  It was not necessarily true "if the
fan dies" but was certainly true if there was no heat sink on the cpu.  The
later generations of AMDs (and Intels) have a temperature sensing mechanism
on chip.  Both (to my knowledge) still require an external program to run
(in the bios) that watches the sensor and turns off power to the processor
if it exceeds a certain temperature.

Most AMDs that you can buy today have this stuff now, however the older
MOTHERBOARDS don't necessarily have it.  ALL modern motherboards have it but
many 2 or 3 year old MBs do not.  If you take a modern processor with the
heat sensor and put it in an old MB, it will burn up if it loses adequate
cooling to the CPU.  If you take an old processor and place it in a modern
MB, it will burn up if it loses cooling.  If you buy a system today, new mb,
new processor, it should survive just fine losing cooling.

And of course it may be possible for MB manufacturers to modify the bios to
sense these new sensors even in their old boards.  BTW, the reason that
Intel's chips didn't burn up had to do with the massive heat sink they built
right in to the "chip".  They did not have this internal sensor either
(AFAIK).

John W. Colby 
www.ColbyConsulting.com

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 2:48 PM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Laptop Recommendation


I've had both and would side with the AMD arguments. One thing I've seen in
test result comments but have never verified is that some - if not all
Athlons will burn up very quickly when the fan dies while the Pentiums will
turn themselves off if they reach a certain temperature.

To reinterate(!) I have no idea if this is true or not.

Can someone attest to this either way?

JB


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