August 18,  2001

Hello All,

It has been awhile since I posted new information. A lot of that was due to the fact that I did not have anything new to post. That has changed.

I have had a number of people ask me if the AMD "mobile" Duron processor in our FX210 and FX215 laptops is actually a Mobile Duron or not.

Well, after doing some research using the AMD CPUID utility and reading the AMD Processor Recognition Application Note, I am led to believe that the processor in the FX210 and probably the FX215 is not a mobile Duron at all but a standard desktop Duron.

Below I have included links to the AMD CPUID utility, a simpler AMD CPU info utility, and the AMD Processor Application Note that I am referencing. I would encourage everyone to download the CPUID utility or the info utility and report back to me what it says about your laptop.

AMD CPUID utility

AMD CPU Info Utility

AMD Processor Recognition Application Note

Here is why I believe that we have the Desktop Duron and not a mobile Duron.

  1. The CPUID Utility reports that the processor in my FX210 is a "AMD Duron(tm) Processor" (screen shot) . This information comes from the CPU ID (80000002..4) section of the CPUID utility. The exact same text string is also reported by the CPU info utility on the very first line (screen shot). According to the Processor Recognition Application Note (page 15) the mobile Duron processors should identify themselves as "mobile AMD Duron(tm) Processor"

  2. The CPUID Utility (screen shot) reports my processor as:

Instruction Family 6
Model 3
Stepping 1

According to the Application Note (page 10) the 800mhz mobile Duron processor should report as:

Instruction Family 6
Model 7
Stepping ?

  1. Furthermore, by digging into the extended functionality items, it can be determined that some features that should be present, if the processor was a mobile Duron, are not present on my processor.

For example the largest extended function supported on my processor is 0x80000006 (screen shot). If the processor was the mobile Duron then a value of 0x80000008 should be present here. Option 0x80000007 is the PowerNow! (page 16) support.

The list can go on quite a bit from here. The conclusion that I have drawn, at this point, is that the processor in my FX210 is not a mobile Duron at all but instead a standard Desktop Duron. Now the big question is what chip is in your FX210 and FX215 laptops?

Please download at least the CPU info utility and send me what it says. A screenshot would be even better. Microsoft has a free utility called HTML Help Workshop that is great for screen captures. Click on the link to download the utility.

The big question will be, if everyone has a standard Duron where do we go from here? (Are any of you lawyers?) I am sure that on the packaging that my FX210 came in it said "mobile Duron" but I will need to double check that.

I am also going to try and get a discussion forum running on this site so that everyone can converse with each other. I will let you know when I get that up and running.

Until next time,

Brad

bhite@rocketmail.com