MSI Wind U110 ECO with Mobility Radeon HD3200?

[ToTTenTranz]

Here is the press release.

U110 ECO Spec
Processor Intel® Atom™ Processor Z530 (1.60GHz)
Operation System

Genuine Windows® XP Home
Genuine Windows®Vista Home Basic
Chipset Intel® Poulsbo US15W
Graphic Ati Mobility Radeon HD3200
Memory DDR2 533MHz, 1 GB (Chipset support to 2GB)
LCD 10" 1024x600 LCD Panel
Storage 160GB or above (2.5" SATA HDD)
Card Reader 4 in 1 (XD/SD/MMC/Memory Stick)
I/O D-sub x 1 , USB 2.0 x 3 , Mic-in , Headphone, RJ45
Battery 3 cells / 6 cells ( option)
Wireless 802.11b/g/n, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth V2.0EDR (option)
Communication Modem, 10/100/1000 Mbps GbE LAN
Webcam 1.3 M / 2.0M (Option)
Sound 2 speakers
Dimension 260*180*19-31.5mm
Weight ~1.0 Kg (including 3 cells battery)

They claim 9 hours batery life with a 6-cell.

What's strange is that they don't mention the external graphics as a highlighted feature. Also, a Mobility Radeon HD3200 doesn't exist.. as a discrete graphics card.. and it's certainly not the IGP in the Poulsbo chipset. This could be an underclocked HD3410 (RV620) without dedicated memory, though. The poulsbo has 2 PCI-Express lanes, and I bet only one would be perfectly enough to make the link to such a low-end GPU.
Either way, it's a solution that should stay behind the 9300M G from the N10J (mainly because of the lack of dedicated memory), but at the same time it would be a lot faster than the GN40 and run circles around the GMA 950.




Or.. this could simply be a typo..

[spicypixel]

If it is correct I may swap my current MSI Wind U100 for it...

[doompc]

The Poulsbo chipset has a nice PowerVR IGP, I bet it's a typo.

[ToTTenTranz]

The Poulsbo chipset has a nice PowerVR IGP, I bet it's a typo.

"Nice IGP"? To do what? Web browsing and word apps? The GMA 500 is even worse than the GMA 950 @ 133Mhz, and its only interesting feature, the H.264 acceleration, has never been put to use due to nightmare drivers. Thank Tungsten for that..


If this netbook really has this discrete GPU, it will be miles away from the rest of the netbook flock. Otherwise I wouldn't make a news thread about it.

[Jamesrt2004]

if this does have what they state i'm buying it for my sister for uni

[LaMpiR]

This one is 10"? it's nice

[Manicdan]

but can it play HD movies?

[WhiteFireDragon]

no significant difference i see between this and the current wind. only the processor and chipset slightly changed for lower power consumption. i was hoping they stretched out the screen a little bit to 11" since there's still so much space on the frame that's wasted, or at least increase the resolution.

[BrowncoatGR]

The Poulsbo chipset has a nice PowerVR IGP, I bet it's a typo.

I dont think P-VR makes IGPs. ANd they're latest gfx are supposed to be quite good actually considering their target market

[ToTTenTranz]

no significant difference i see between this and the current wind. only the processor and chipset slightly changed for lower power consumption. i was hoping they stretched out the screen a little bit to 11" since there's still so much space on the frame that's wasted, or at least increase the resolution.

Besides the 40sp DX10.1 HD3200, you mean?

[Mats]

Not the only Atom system with ATI graphics.

[Manicdan]

Not the only Atom system with ATI graphics.

lol it uses XP, was that cause its cheaper, or cause its better for performance and energy consuption.

[Mats]

lol it uses XP, was that cause its cheaper, or cause its better for performance and energy consuption.

Good question, tho it couldn't hurt to have the support for it I guess.

[zanzabar]

having a 3200 will make it a great media box

and XP is cheaper and u dont have to have a custom installer to work properly with SSD, but i would bet that win7 will be available on it when its out

[Frank M]

Or.. this could simply be a typo..

99% it is...

due to nightmare drivers. Thank Tungsten for that..

If this netbook really has this discrete GPU, it will be miles away from the rest of the netbook flock. Otherwise I wouldn't make a news thread about it.

No, thank Intel's driver-coding talents
Took them, what, a year, to enable Dx10 capabilities in G965?

Take a look at the Asus N10-whatever (-j?), which has N270+945GS+
a discrete Gef9300GS -- on tests, it could even run CoD4 (at low
quality and a bit jerky, but it did run nonetheless...)

but can it play HD movies?

What I was expecting: "but can it play Crysis?"
What I got: "but can it play HD movies?"
Bah...

To answer: no. No single-Atom netbook will ever be able to play Full HD.
Decoding relies on either a very good decoding-accelerator chip with
a good driver and a media player that's written to put exactly that
chip's capabilities to use; and also that you stay with the video
coding/compression types that this works on; or the decoding is done
by the cpu, and it takes a decent 1.2-1.5GHz DC cpu.

no significant difference i see between this and the current wind. only the processor and chipset slightly changed for lower power consumption. i was hoping they stretched out the screen a little bit to 11" since there's still so much space on the frame that's wasted, or at least increase the resolution.

Slightly changed for lower power consumption?
This cpu+chipset has less than half the consumption!!
This could easily mean +50% battery life, even more under load!
That is a bloody significant difference there.

What you are asking, I'm sorry to disappoint you, will not happen
with netbooks that have XP. Microsoft and Intel set the rules that for a
netbook to be eligible for the otherwise discontinued XP, the screen can
be no bigger than 10.2" 1024*600, and the HDD 160GB.

If you want bigger screen with higher resolution, then you can either
a.) only get a netbook with vista (Dell mini 12 has 12.1" 1280*800,
Atom+Poulsbo; some more coming later), but Vista will make the netbook
uncomfortably slow; or
b.) you get an ultraportable instead of a netbook. I bought a used
Vaio TX3 with 11.1" 1366*768 screen and 1.2GHz Core Solo for just a bit
more than an average 10"-screen netbook

I dont think P-VR makes IGPs. ANd they're latest gfx are supposed to be quite good actually considering their target market

They don't make, but who said that?
Intel licenses it from them.
And with intel's drivers, their performance is... ridiculous.

[ToTTenTranz]

No, thank Intel's driver-coding talents
Took them, what, a year, to enable Dx10 capabilities in G965?

No, it's Tungsten Graphics who's writing the drivers for the GMA 500.

What I was expecting: "but can it play Crysis?"
What I got: "but can it play HD movies?"
Bah...

To answer: no. No single-Atom netbook will ever be able to play Full HD.
Decoding relies on either a very good decoding-accelerator chip with
a good driver and a media player that's written to put exactly that
chip's capabilities to use; and also that you stay with the video
coding/compression types that this works on; or the decoding is done
by the cpu, and it takes a decent 1.2-1.5GHz DC cpu.

UVD and VP2/3 do full-HD stream decoding with almost no CPU utilization. Both Ion and this "possible" HD3200 would easily play HD with an Atom CPU, if the hardware acceleration is activated.
As long as you have dedicated hardware acceleration, HD playback is no problem at all.
The latest stand-alone Bluray players have been using low-power MIPS CPUs as the main processor, for example.

[STEvil]

Why should M$ set the rules for what constitutes a netbook?

[gumballguy]

Only because they no longer sell xp except in their third-world-country-everyone-has-access-to-a-computer-program. And probably ATMs and stuff. It's the only way to buy an xp license now.

So basically they constrain these budget models to ensure they are low power.

What they need, however, is to revise their limitations. Because we want to use them in first world countries too, obviously. The requirements are way too low - one slight step out of line, and you've got to start running vista, which just doesnt work on less than a laptop. Work well, I mean.

Mind you my favourite OS was win2000

If they'd just allow bigger screens, so we could have bigger keyboards to type for hours at a time, we'd also end up with plenty of space for a big battery. And we would have an absolute winner. I understand why they dont (who'd buy the more expensive laptop?) but its an absolute PAIN.

[ToTTenTranz]

Early reports indicated that it would have an ATI Mobility Radeon HD3200 graphics card. Andy Tung of MSI confirmed this was a misprint on the company’s Website.

Source.



Bleh, don't care anymore.

This thread could be closed for all I know.

[Frank M]

UVD and VP2/3 do full-HD stream decoding with almost no CPU utilization. Both Ion and this "possible" HD3200 would easily play HD with an Atom CPU, if the hardware acceleration is activated.
As long as you have dedicated hardware acceleration, HD playback is no problem at all.
The latest stand-alone Bluray players have been using low-power MIPS CPUs as the main processor, for example.

No.
They can only accelerate decoding if
- the format is supported
- the driver is well written
- the media player software takes advantage of those hw features.
Give it a video of a different format and all those hw decoding features
become useless, and in that case, only the cpu counts. A half-ass
driver: ditto. A media player that doesn't support hw acceleration: ditto.

Bluray players work well because disc are of a given encoding format,
so they are specialized on those. If you give them a different format,
they are useless.

told you...

[ToTTenTranz]

No.
(...)
Give it a video of a different format and all those hw decoding features
become useless, and in that case, only the cpu counts. A half-ass
driver: ditto. A media player that doesn't support hw acceleration: ditto.

Yes.
What format is not supported by ATI and nVidia GPUs?
Media Player Classic HomeCinema supports mkv with hardware decoding and PowerDVD supports pretty much everything else.

Bluray players work well because disc are of a given encoding format,
so they are specialized on those. If you give them a different format,
they are useless.

Well, DUH, it's a standalone blu-ray player.
But players with AVI and MKV support should come out eventually, like the DVD players with Divx/Xvid support.

told you...

Actually, I told that myself in the first post. :P

[Frank M]

Yes.
What format is not supported by ATI and nVidia GPUs?

Well, DUH, it's a standalone blu-ray player.
But players with AVI and MKV support should come out eventually, like the DVD players with Divx/Xvid support.

Look at real-world tests, MPEG4, MPEG4/AVC and VC-1 still show
considerable CPU utilization with strong DC cpus -- so their implementation
can still be called incomplete.
What formats? Additions to MPEG4 since it's 2003 finalization, new
and upcoming coding methods.

avi, mkv and a bunch more are just containers.
What matters is the video stream's encoding.

[ToTTenTranz]

Look at real-world tests, MPEG4, MPEG4/AVC and VC-1 still show
considerable CPU utilization with strong DC cpus -- so their implementation
can still be called incomplete.

We've been talking about hardware acceleration+Atom the whole thread and since you got to the conclusion you weren't right, you're just making up senseless side-talks so you don't have to twist your arm.
Guess what? I'll stop feeding you from now on.


This thread should be locked anyways.

[Frank M]

Are you trying to troll me?

I said, look at real world test.
G45, 780G, Gef9400 with 2.5-3GHz DC Core / K8 can all use 20-40% average,
with spikes up 60-70%. Could an Atom, which is a weak, SC 1.6G cpu,
handle that without hiccups?
No, depending on the media, bitrate and encoding, I don't think you'll have
flawless playback in any case. May work in most of the cases if it all the
conditions are met, but there will be cases where it will not work out all
that well.

[ToTTenTranz]

I said, look at real world test.
G45, 780G, Gef9400 with 2.5-3GHz DC Core / K8 can all use 20-40% average,
with spikes up 60-70%.

Oh really?


Wait.. is that a 1% CPU usage with GPU acceleration? No, it couldn't be!

Could an Atom, which is a weak, SC 1.6G cpu,
handle that without hiccups?

Yes:

My experiences. I've tested the software on four different machines, and can summarize this:

*
NVIDIA ION | Intel Atom 230 | 2GB - Accelerates well, stutters when enabling Shaders
*
nForce 730 | Core 2 Q6600 | 2 GB | GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB - Flawless playback including combined shaders
*
AMD 790 FX | Phenom 9950 | 2 GB | integrated GPU - Accelerates well, stutters when enabling Shaders
*
X58 | Core i7 965 | 6 GB | Radeon HD 4650 512MB - Flawless playback including combined shaders

(Note: by "enabling Shaders", he means to force additional post-processing through shaders like sharpening and emboss)
Source

Are you trying to troll me?

If you're not being a troll, you're definitely trying to show some knowledge about things you don't understand. Oops, we know the definition for that.