Intel D945GCLF2 Review - Harnessing the Dual Core Atom
Submitted By steven on Sep 22 2008 at 7:49 AM
Introduction
We were pleasantly surprised with the release of the first D945GCLF motherboard sporting Intel's first generation Atom 230 processor. With the Atom 230, Intel's engineers had created quite the competitive chip -- without any major faults. Offering class-leading performance, at a cost that undercuts the competition, Intel seemed to have harnessed the Atom.
After the Atom's initial release, word began to spread that a dual-core version was already being developed. This rumor gave way to an appearance of such a chip on a number of official Intel Road Maps. Given the tremendous demand for the single core Atom 230 (and mobile Z230), for use in low cost computer platforms (dubbed “netbooks” and “nettops” by Intel), it seemed Intel was more eager than ever to officially anounce the dual core version of the Atom. Intel finally unveiled the D945GDLF2 and its dual core Atom 330 processor in August 18th, during the Intel Developers Forum.
Like the original Atom series, the new Atom 330 is built on the Silverthorne core with Intel's latest 45nm manufacturing technology. However, the new Atom 330 is not a “native dual-core”. The 330 is, instead, comprised of two single core Silverthorne dies on a single package, linked via the 533mhz Front Side Bus providing communication between the two cores. Many expected that this solution was a cheaper and a more immediate response to the high demand for a low cost, high performance, embedded Intel processor. As Intel knows all to well, sometimes combining multiple die on a single package can lead to faster time tables and a lower cost, over investing in a single die, multiple core solution. But if your goal is to make an embedded processor as cheap as possible, without sacrificing performance, such short cuts are often necessary.
Making its return to the Atom chip is HyperThreading technology. Hyperthreading allows each core to process two threads simultaneously, by allowing stages for the processing pipeline that would otherwise be idle to process more portions of data. As the Atom 330 is equipped with two physical cores, which can handle two threads each, your operating system will list four active cores. As the Atom processors retains a rather lengthy, 16 stage pipeline, HyperThreading can provide greater efficiency and have a notable impact on performance. In our previous testing with the original Atom 230 equipped-D945GCLF, HyperThreading had a strong impact on our synthetic testing. It did, however, prove to offer very little in some of the real world testing, such as the gaming benchmarks.
Aside from the new Atom, the D945GCLF2 has also changed from the original D945GCLF. The physical dimensions remain the same, as mandated by the Mini ITX form factor, but Intel has made revisions to the heat sinks used on the board. This is because the original units were too tall for some slim Mini-ITX cases. Also new to the feature list is the gigabit ethernet controller, S-Video out connection, and the expansion of the 20-pin power connection -- to the newer 24-pin standard. In the chart below are the latest specs when compareed to the original D945GCLF.
| Motherboard | D945GCLF | D945GCLF2 |
| Processor | Intel Atom 230 | Intel Atom 330 |
| Chipset | Intel 945GC | Intel 945GC |
| IGP Graphics | Intel GMA950 | Intel GMA950 |
| Manufacturing Tech | 45 nm | 45 nm |
| Clock Speed | 1.6GHz | 2x 1.6GHz |
| FSB Speed | 533 (133x4) | 533 (133x4) |
| Number of Cores | 1 (with HT) | 2 (with HT) |
| Computaional Threads | 2 (HT Enabled) | 4 (HT Enabled) |
| TDP | 4w | 8w |
