Woo hoo! Dothan!

[Pyroraptor]

I finally managed to nab a Dothan 1.7/2m off ebay for a decent price of $40 shipped, and it arrived yesterday. And man, is it ever faster than the old Banias 1.3/1m! I'm quite amazed that a $40 upgrade could make that much of a difference; windows now boots to the desktop in 25 seconds instead of about a minute, also, when running BOINC overnight (in my already 30c room) the temp never goes above 62c, the banias would easily hit 75c. I haven't run it on battery power enough yet to know if that makes a big difference.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with this upgrade, it's amazing.

[jdhurst]

The Dothan probably matches your 7200 rpm drive quite well. My Dothan made some difference, and the 7200 rpm drive made some difference, but the two together made a lot of difference. ... JDH

[Pyroraptor]

Yeah, probably. Ditching the old 30gb 5400 for the 60gb 7200 was quite nice, but this is alot more of a jump.

(the 30gb still serves in my old powerbook G3, fwiw)

[wearetheborg]

windows now boots to the desktop in 25 seconds instead of about a minute, also,

That cannot possibly be due to just the processor.
Did you reinstall the OS ?

How much does a faster processor affect boot time ?

[Temetka]

Dothans are awesome processors, but then again so are the Banias chips. I really love the Tualatin core used in the mobile P3's and re-worked for the Pentium M. It's such a kick [censored] core that Intel re-used it for CoreDuo and Core2Duo.

I have a 2GHz Dothan in my T41p and I do notice a good speed increase over the original 1.7GHz Banias chip. Whether this is due to the extra 300MHz or the extra 1MB of L2 Cache is anyones guess. My money is betting that the extra cache has more to do with it then just raw speed alone.

[underclocker]

Nice work on the upgrade. Indeed, it's amazing what kind of upgrade that is for $40. That CPU wasn't even available when the T40's were released and when they were released, Intel got a couple of hundred dollars per CPU.

Thanks for the tempurature stats, it's good to keep seeing this kind of data. It seems that the long fan is really only required for video chipset cooling (9000 and up chipset) or maybe the fastest CPUs (like 2.0 and 2.1).

[Pyroraptor]

windows now boots to the desktop in 25 seconds instead of about a minute, also,

That cannot possibly be due to just the processor.
Did you reinstall the OS ?

Nope, it's the same OS I had with the banias, Win XP Pro SP2.

How much does a faster processor affect boot time ?

Quite a bit apparently!

Thanks for the tempurature stats, it's good to keep seeing this kind of data. It seems that the long fan is really only required for video chipset cooling (9000 and up chipset) or maybe the fastest CPUs (like 2.0 and 2.1).

No problem, I'm very happy to help where and when I can.

I've also been considering a long fan (they're usually around $15 on ebay) mainly because North Carolina summers without air conditioning can be pretty hard on computers sometimes, and if it helps to extend the longevity of the hardware, even better.

[okkyn]

I noticed that my fan works harder after Banias 1.3 -> Dothan 1.8 upgrade. I still use the same short fan though.

[lilserenity]

Reading this makes me think I should soon look into getting a Dothan for my T40, although I have never once thought of my Banias 1.5GHz being too slow or slow even.

I must be very patient or easy to please

Such an upgrade would probably mean that this T40 lasts me forever.

You think I'm joking, no way this is by far the best laptop I have ever owned and such an upgrade could be really useful for it.

Thanks for the feedback on your upgrade.

Vicky

[Eric Giles]

I made the same upgrade as the original poster-going from a 1.3 Banias to a 1.7 Dothan. I saw a nice increase in performance, but I have to say the 1.3 Banias can hold it's own. It's not a bad performer at all!

But for the price it is well worth the upgrade.

[Pyroraptor]

I made the same upgrade as the original poster-going from a 1.3 Banias to a 1.7 Dothan. I saw a nice increase in performance, but I have to say the 1.3 Banias can hold it's own. It's not a bad performer at all!

Quite true!

When I first got my T40 all set up and running, I was suprised that a 1.3GHz machine could perform so well. I mainly wanted to get a dothan because it runs cooler (10 deg C is quite dramatic) and it supposedly uses less power. but I haven't tested that much yet. The speed boost is a very nice plus though!

[wearetheborg]

I noticed that my fan works harder after Banias 1.3 -> Dothan 1.8 upgrade. I still use the same short fan though.

Thats wierd, I thought dothans had a TDP of 21 w as compared to 27w for banias ?

They can be undervolted further to make then run even more cooler

[okkyn]

I noticed that my fan works harder after Banias 1.3 -> Dothan 1.8 upgrade. I still use the same short fan though.

Thats wierd, I thought dothans had a TDP of 21 w as compared to 27w for banias ?

They can be undervolted further to make then run even more cooler

Yeah... just my feeling, no worry. I didn't do any measurement though.

[kstuart]

I recently found the following prices on Dothans:

1.7 ghz = $27 + shipping (working pull)
1.8 ghz = $60-$70
2.0 ghz = $150-$160

So I think the 1.7 ghz SL7EP is currently the best value.

(I.E. Paying more than double for 5% increase seems not worthwhile.)

[doylnea]

kstuart - Are those eBay prices?

[kstuart]

kstuart - Are those eBay prices?

Yes, but for Buy-It-Now listings.