It isn’t often that there is something to get excited about in the mobile industry, as it is basically reflective of the desktop market, which usually debuts a product almost a full quarter before it hits the mobile side. Additionally, the term “mobile computing” is plagued with the connotation that there is a sacrifice of performance for mobility, as that has been naturally intuitive. (Desktop replacements fall out of this typical bound, as the term itself conjures up images of oversized and overweight notebooks.)

In fact, the only substantial news on the mobile front, recently, is the emergence of Centrino technology based notebooks. This is something that we continue to rave about because of the low power consumption, which in turn leads to lower heat emissions, lower cooling requirements, lower noise emissions, and all the while without compromising performance. The scale of the Pentium-M has reached further than previously anticipated, as they are now used in place of the Pentium 4-M (and Pentium 4 in some cases) for desktop replacement notebooks. Dell’s latest Inspiron refresh is indicative of this.

While Intel has been continuing to bathe in the glory of Centrino, we await to hear word from AMD on their latest mobile processor. AMD has never been that large in the mobile market and the lack of support for the big three: IBM, Dell, HP/Compaq has been a major factor in our inability to review a current AMD based notebook.

Meanwhile, on the graphics end, it seems to be a no bar winner in the mobile race, for now, as Mobility Radeon 9600 took a significant lead over its NVIDIA counterpart (GeForce FX Go56X0). This was clearly seen in our Mobility Radeon 9600 and GeForce FX Go5650 coverage. Interestingly enough, it was Voodoo, who was the first system vendor to showcase Mobility Radeon 9600 in working and shipping samples with their Envy M:460. This is the backdrop for what Voodoo recently handed to us, a M:855 system, which is the first production AMD based notebook we have seen in sometime. The kicker is that this isn’t based on the Athlon XP or XP-M, neither of which took off in the mobile market; rather this is powered by the new Athlon 64 DTR processor. This is big enough news as it is, and in order to complete this review on a timely basis, we have split the review into two parts...

Voodoo Envy M:855 - Hexing up a Storm

Intuitively, it may appear to be odd that a seemingly obscure system vendor would be the first to showcase production samples of new technology, particularly when it comes to processors. However, the reason that Voodoo is able to do so is because of their small company size (in comparison to the big three: IBM, Dell, and HP/Compaq). As we mentioned before, when it concerns mobile technology, technology that is pertinent usually pops up about a quarter or so after the desktop market receives it. This is the case with the Pentium 4 and the Pentium 4-M, Athlon XP and Athlon XP-M, and so forth...

The reason that we don’t see the big three hitting the market with Athlon 64 notebooks now is exactly due to the reason they are big. This large market share ends up translating into more time spent qualifying any upcoming products (and to more stringent requirements), as well as all the bureaucracy accompany a large corporation. This extremely thorough process is explicitly in place because no large company wants to be the first to take that possibly fatal risk. Their reputation, customer loyalty, product perception, etc… are all up for grabs in a sense. All of this is just extenuated when it comes to the mobile side, as people tend to be more fickle in when it comes to how much money will be spent for what on the most part will be a non-user serviceable/upgradeable system.

On the other side, smaller companies have less bureaucracy to run through the mills, and at that same time, they have a less stringent qualification process. These companies, after all, are often built towards the fringe markets, and their reputation, which goes hand in hand, is centered on bringing forth the cutting edge.

For those unfamiliar with Voodoo, they are a Canadian based company that recently has been generating more press than their biggest competitor (Alienware), due to a slew of interesting products of late. It is interesting to note that Voodoo was the first system vendor to use a 7200RPM hard drive in a widely available notebook (the M:355). Their current mobile line is completely of ATI design, which isn’t a bad time to be, and when we heard about the M:855 a while back, this definitely caught our eyes. Equipped with an Athlon 64 desktop replacement processor and Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro, this is a desktop replacement of a variety in current short supply.

The New Voodoo Envy M:855

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As time as passed since the Athlon 64 official debut, we are now at the tips of the iceberg concerning Athlon 64 for notebooks (different from the mobile version of Athlon 64).

Athlon 64 for notebooks - Not Quite Desktop, Not Quite Mobile

There has been some confusion, as a result of Athlon 64 designation for mobile products. Voodoo’s M:855 are shipping with AMD Athlon 64 DTR (desktop replacement) 3200+. This is not the same as the desktop versions, as the DTR version has a few gate improvements, which is supposed to provide for better thermal and power characteristics compared to its desktop big brother.

The DTR version of Athlon 64 (pictured below) is clearly not intended for anything other than desktop replacement notebooks, as that is the reason behind the appropriate naming. The thermal and power characteristics are very close to what we have seen on the desktop Athlon 64 parts, and DTR, for its name sake, only features minimal improvements in this department.

Voodoo Envy M:855 - Athlon 64 DTR 3200+

The physical markings on the DTR CPU should be the same as the desktop version, but they clearly will be marketed as two different products. From our recent talks with AMD and our own use of the Voodoo Envy M:855, we gather that Windows XP and processor identification tools should show the DTR versions the same as the desktop versions.

We should clearly note that AMD has upcoming Athlon 64 mobile processors for systems of the thin and light variety, but this is an entirely different product, which should have further announcements in the near future.

Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro - OverDrive?

So with all the demand for Mobility Radeon 9600, it seems that design wins were in short supply about a month ago. Much has changed since then, as several large system vendors have picked up the product. It is interesting to note that in some cases, the NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5650 is being marketed toward the high-end mobile market; all the while the same company is targeting the ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 toward the mainstream mobile market.

The biggest difference between the Mobility Radeon 9600 (M10) and Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro (M10 Pro) is the employment of GDDR2-M and higher clock speeds on the latter. This is in addition to OverDrive, which marks the first time overclocking of any kind has been announced for the mainstream mobile market. Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro based notebooks seem to be popping up here and there, but we would make a note of caution to prospective buyers, as no current Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro based system has the ability to take advantage of this feature.

For OverDrive to be functional, there are several prerequisites: the BIOS for the graphic processor must have this feature enabled, the thermal diode to monitor temperature, and some sort of a logic circuit to retrieve and act upon the information from the thermal diode. This is in addition to the obvious thermal issues that this feature brings up. The decision to implement these features (and ultimately OverDrive) is left up to system vendors. We have been informed that we may see some laptops with the ability to enable OverDrive in quarter one or two of 2004. This is a feature we are still teething to see, particularly its effect on performance, as well as battery life.

Meanwhile, the Voodoo Envy M:855 we received uses a discrete Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro with 64MB of onboard Samsung MicroBGA 3.6ns DDR video memory. Obviously, the Envy M:855 cannot enable the OverDrive feature, as this is the case with all the current Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro based notebooks.

Voodoo Envy M:855's Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro

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Voodoo Envy M:855's Samsung 3.6ns MicroBGA DDR video memory

Apparently, there is even more confusion over what qualifies for the Pro postfix. Much of what we know now about Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro comes from our preview earlier in March. Within the last forty-eight hours, our talks with Voodoo have revealed some interesting developments. Voodoo tells us that ATI has two main perquisites for the Pro dubbing: 350MHz core clock and 128MB of video memory. It seems that the GDDR2-M requirement has been dropped. The regular Mobility Radeon 9600 has official clock speeds of 350MHz/300MHz, but these aren’t hard and fast guidelines, as it is up to system vendors to decide the appropriate clock speeds for their thermal budget.

While our Voodoo Envy M:855 came with only 64MB, it is of the Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro yield batch, and for that reason we call it such. This is in addition to the fact that these perquisites didn’t come to light until just now. The reason behind the chip's "M10" physical marking is because the chip is an engineering sample, otherwise it should be marked "Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro."

The clocks for the Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro on our M:855 sample were 351MHz core clock and 202MHz memory clock, which are only so odd in the fact that they are not divisible by 5MHz. Voodoo’s refresh of M:855 should come with 128MB of video memory and should have an excess of 250MHz in memory clock. We aren't sure if they are going to stick with the Samsung video memory, which is on our M:855 sample, or will switch to the integrated memory package. However, the Samsung 3.6ns MicroBGA DDR memory is rated at 275MHz, which should leave some head room to increase the memory clocks. Initially, it will be shipping with what we are sampling: Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro with 64MB of video memory. Both Voodoo and AnandTech have been receiving conflicting reports on the required memory clock for the Pro postfix. Once we get more solid information that indicates what is correct, we will report back.

For those that claim that their Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro doesn’t show up in the control panel or Window XP’s display settings, we have noticed that in Window XP’s display settings, the Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro will not be identified as such. Instead, it is often times identified as Mobility Radeon 9600 or M10.

The Test

Our test configuration for our Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, and Intel Pentium 4 scores are the same as previously mention our Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX – It’s Judgement Day and Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz – The Real Slim Shady articles.

It is important to note that the PowerNow (AMD’s equivalent of Intel’s SpeedStep) drivers that came with our Voodoo Envy M:855 are premature. They are full version (non-betas), but never the less are early. Voodoo will qualify the new PowerNow drivers next week, and this will concurrently affect performance. AMD has a general footprint of PowerNow that is sent to OEMs/ODMs/SIs/etc… However, system vendors have the choice of modifying the footprint to a degree. The modification of the PowerNow drivers is dependent on how much a system vendor is willing to take on thermal emissions for performance, and vice versa.

The new drivers from Voodoo should increase performance, as they are readily willing to increase their thermal budget. Additionally, we should note that in many timing benchmarks, PowerNow will create a conflict, as the timing between intervals is often times derived from the CPU. Because CPU frequency dynamically changes in response to the operating environment, the timing is derived incorrectly, and therefore the benchmark reports incorrectly.

Windows XP Professional Test System
	Voodoo Envy M:855	Dell Inspiron 8600	Dell Latitude D800	Gigabyte NB-1401	IBM T40
CPU(s)	Athlon 64 DTR 3200+	Pentium M 1.7GHz	Pentium M 1.6GHz	Pentium M 1.4GHz	Pentium M 1.5GHz
Motherboard(s)	Voodoo K8T800	Dell 855PM	Dell 855PM	FIC 855GM	IBM 855PM
Memory	512MB PC2700	512MB PC2700	512MB PC2100	512MB PC2100	256MB PC2100
Hard Drive	60GB 7200RPM	60GB 7200RPM	40GB 5400RPM	40GB 4200RPM	40GB 5400RPM
CDROM	CD-RW/DVD	DVD+RW	CD-RW/DVD	CD-RW/DVD	CD-RW/DVD
Video Card(s)	ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro 64MB DDR	NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5650 128MB DDR	NVIDIA GeForce4 4200 Go 64MB DDR	Integrated 855PM	ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
Ethernet	Onboard VIA 10/100	Onboard Broadcom 10/100	Onboard Intel Gigabit	Onboard Intel Gigabit	Onboard Intel Gigabit
Operating System	Windows XP Professional SP1
Video Drivers	ATI 6.14.10.6378 (latest available for Voodoo)	NVIDIA 44.82 (latest available for Dell)	NVIDIA 42.56 (latest available for Dell)	Intel 6.13.10.3510	ATI 6.13.10.6278 (latest available for IBM)
Benchmarking Applications	ZDM Business Winstone 2002 ZDM Content Creation Winstone 2003 Massive: AquaMark3 Yeti Studios: Gun Metal Egosoft: X2 Ubi Soft: Splinter Cell

General Usage Performance

AMD has usually fared better in business applications of late, and it was a bit of surprise to see the Voodoo Envy M:855 land just shy of the highest end Pentium-M 1.7GHz processor. It is likely that the M:855 will slightly surpass the Pentium-M 1.7GHz with the new PowerNow drivers, but this will depend on how Voodoo modifies their PowerNow drivers.

To be honest, we have some reservations over the scores for the Voodoo Envy M:855 - Athlon 64 DTR 3200+ (2.0GHz) in these benchmarks. We expected the scores to be slated above the Pentium-M scores and lower than the desktop Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0GHz). In our talks with Voodoo, the culprit may be the premature PowerNow drivers. Similar to the SpeedStep issues, PowerNow sometimes causes benchmarks to report scores incorrectly, because the benchmark derives the wrong timing from the CPU, which is changing in response to the simultaneous operations. It is possible that these scores are correct, but we have our suspicious. The new PowerNow drivers should clear things up.

Content Creation Performance

Currently, Intel Pentium 4 3.2C and 3.0C take the lead when it comes to multimedia style type performance with AMD trailing behind. We were very surprised to see the Voodoo Envy M:855’s Athlon 64 DTR 3200+ slightly ahead of the Athlon 64 3200+, and we attribute this to the use of different chipsets as well as margin of standard deviation between test scenarios.

AquaMark3 Performance – No AA/AF

We continue to use AquaMark for the reason that it employs the use of pixel shader 2.0, and is based on a real-world gaming engine. All of the various settings we ran were configured via the application.

The scores for the non AA and AF scores are somewhat of what we saw in our past Mobility Radeon 9600 and GeForce FX Go5650 head to head. Even with AA or AF, the Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro takes a comfortable 68% and 64% lead, respectfully.

AquaMark3 Performance – 4xAA/8xAF

The score we achieved here are reflective of what we got in the head to head. Instead of listing the scores by chapter, we are just using the overall score, as the former would be too lengthy. This only means that the GeForce FX Go5650 isn’t overcome by more than 100%, instead 63% at minimum, which is nevertheless substantial.

AquaMark3 IQ – 4xAA/8xAF

Voodoo Envy M:855 - Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro

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Dell Inspiron 8600 - GeForce FX Go5650

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Overall, the image quality for both mobile graphic solutions was very similar in AquaMark3. However, NVIDIA hardware was noticeably jerkier and needed more time to complete a benchmark run.

Gun Metal Performance

As we move up to higher resolutions and higher AA and AF settings, the margin between the two mobile graphic solutions dramatically decreases. At 1280x1024 4xAA/8xAF, the margin between the two drops abruptly to 3.2%. Though, the fact that Gun Metal doesn’t use pixel shader 2.0, translates to a scenario very different than what we have seen with Half-Life 2 and other titles that employ PS2.0 shaders.

Gun Metal IQ - 2xAA/No AF

Voodoo Envy M:855 - Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro

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Dell Inspiron 8600 - GeForce FX Go5650

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Gun Metal doesn’t employ pixel shader 2.0, rather vertex shader 2.0. The image quality between the two systems was very compatible. However, the Dell Inspiron 8600 with GeForce FX Go5650 was noticeably slower than the Voodoo Envy M:855 with Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro. There wasn’t much jerkiness noticed in this benchmark, but the GeForce FX Go5650 did take more time to complete a benchmark run.

ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro Glitch under 1280x1024 in Benchmark 1

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We found an interesting glitch with ATI hardware in this benchmark, which is why we switched to Benchmark 2 for the 1280x1024 benchmark runs. The problem only seemed to appear in the 1280x1024 resolution in Benchmark 1, and seems to a glitch in the benchmark. We played the level used in Benchmark 1 with the full version of Gun Metal, and it ran fine.

X2 Performance – No AA/AF

X2 Performance – 4xAA/8xAF

X2 IQ – 4xAA/8xAF

Voodoo Envy M:855 - Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro

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Dell Inspiron 8600 - GeForce FX Go5650

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As we mentioned in our Fall 2003 Video Card Roundup – Part 2, NVIDIA hardware has a tendency to run jerky in X2. This is something that we have continued to experience on the mobile side. The Voodoo Envy M:855 with Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro ran X2 perfectly fine with AA and AF turned up.

Splinter Cell Performance – 1_1_1Tbilisi

Splinter Cell Performance – 1_1_2Tbilisi

Splinter Cell IQ - 1_1_2Tbilisi

Splinter Cell has three codepaths: Class 2, Class 1, and Class 0. ATI’s Rxx and R3xx use the Class 1 codepath, while NVIDIA’s NV2x and NV3x use the Class 2 codepath.

Class 2 Graphic Adaptors:
NV2x/NV3x chips
Dynamic Lighting system = Shadow Buffer
Vertex position modifiers = Yes
Light beams stopped by depth texturing = Yes
Pixel Shader effects/filters/water = Yes
Reflection/Details texturing/Specular = Yes

Class 1 Graphic Adaptors:
R2xx/R3xx/Parhelia/Xabre 200/Xabre 400/Xabre 600/chips/Creative P9
Dynamic Lighting system = Shadow Projector
Vertex position modifiers = No
Light beams stopped by depth texturing = No
Pixel Shader effects/filters/water = Yes
Reflection/Details texturing/Specular = Yes

This does means that some visual effects will be different between the two hardware solutions, as the codepaths are different. Class 2 graphic adapters can run as Class 2, Class 1, and Class 0, while Class 1 graphic adapters can run as Class 1 and Class 0. Forced emulation is possible, but by default, the hardware will chose the appropriate codepath intended. We ran everything by default, which means that two different codepaths were used.

We originally believed that the Class 2 graphic adapters would output a possibly higher image quality then Class 1, due to the naming derivative. However, the image quality issue isn’t all black and white. Instead, we have found scenarios that seem support both sides of the spectrum.

The last pair of pictures shows a stark example between the two codepaths. NVIDIA’s GeForce FX Go5650 won’t show the explosion of the computer when shot at, while ATI’s Mobility Radeon 9600 and Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro will. This is concurrent in the desktop products, as well. So it seems that ATI’s hardware is doing more work in this scenario, despite still coming out well on top (even when considering the CPU scaling). Meanwhile, the pixel shader use seems to be a bit more smoothed out on NVIDIA hardware (the first and second pair of pictures), but we do have some reservations over the quality of the pixel shaders used. We will let you be the judge...

Voodoo Envy M:855 - Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro

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Dell Inspiron 8600 - GeForce FX Go5650

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Voodoo Envy M:855 - Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro

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Dell Inspiron 8600 - GeForce FX Go5650

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Voodoo Envy M:855 - Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro

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Dell Inspiron 8600 - GeForce FX Go5650

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Conclusion

We have extremely good impressions of the Voodoo Envy M:855 at first glance, after taking the time to put it through some benchmarks. Since this will be clearly marketed as a gaming platform, it only seemed appropriate to also look at image quality issues. From what we have been seeing and experiencing, the performance is up to par with the best of the best and is additionally ready for 64-bit computing.

That having been said, 64-bit computing won’t really take off until software support exists. The other scenario for 64-bit processors to proliferate the market is for immediate 32-bit performance benefits. But this is more of a side issue, as the M:855 is sold as a system not on the basis of the Athlon 64 DTR processor alone.

We are currently benchmarking the M:855 in more depth, and part 2 will cover what has become known as the AnandTech standard mobile review, as well as diving into the battery life of this powerhouse notebook. Voodoo claims that it fairs better than their Centrino notebook, which is indeed a very exciting claim to make. Considering it based on a K8T800 chipset and uses an Athlon 64 DTR, we aren’t expecting incredibly high battery life. After all, these are desktop and desktop like components, which aren’t designed to be that forgiving on power consumption. We will know more on this subject soon once we get the final benchmark numbers in.

In the meantime, we should mention that our system comes with a price tag just shy of 3,600 USD. (3,578 USD with 1GB of system memory to be exact, but we only used 512MB for benchmarking purposes.) With this price tag and considering its hardware, Voodoo is no doubt continuing to go after the gaming market. So far so good, as the M:855 comes with a great feel to it: tactile keyboard, crisp screen, etc..., which we will explore deeper in our part 2 coverage. The system gets only so warm as some of the Intel based desktop replacements we have seen (Pentium-M, Pentium 4 533MHz/800MHz, etc...), and is surprisingly quiet compared to many desktop replacements (about the same as the Dell Inspiron 8600 when idle in this regard). At the moment, we have no qualms about recommending the Envy M:855 for gamers or enthusiasts, as it performs extremely close to a desktop AMD Athlon 64 3200+ system in some scenarios.