Transmeta CPUs

All about them.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
perplex
Posts: 298
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:29 pm
Location: Club Tropicana

Transmeta CPUs

Post by perplex » Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:56 am

Hello, has anyone ever had user experience with a Transmeta CPU in a notebook for example. What is the real life performance like? :?

|Romeo|
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 6:36 pm
Location: UK

Post by |Romeo| » Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:23 pm

Not very good. Newer models are supposedly better, but I'm not sure if that's truly the case or not.

alglove
Posts: 363
Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 11:21 am
Location: Houston, TX, USA

Post by alglove » Sat Jul 16, 2005 8:37 am

I remember trying one out in a store several years ago. It seemed to be slower than a VIA CPU of the same clockspeed. I have no idea how much things have changed since then, though.

***EDIT***
The CPU in question was one of the first Crusoes.
Last edited by alglove on Sat Jul 16, 2005 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Rusty075
SPCR Reviewer
Posts: 4000
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Contact:

Post by Rusty075 » Sat Jul 16, 2005 2:37 pm

From what I've read, they compare pretty well on a clock-for-clock basis with a Via, or AMD K7, or even a P4. But.....remember that the clock speeds for Transmeta's max out at 1Ghz. It's been a long time since most of us were using 1Ghz AMD or Intel CPU's. Don't skimp on RAM, published benchmarks show them being quite sensitive to ram-induced slowdowns. Also pay attention to which Transmeta CPU they're selling you: The Efficeon is substantially faster than the Crusoe, but the cheaper Crusoe is still in use.

Of course these are all second-hand reports taken from a scattering of generally poorly done reviews...


I'll post a first-hand update soon: my OQO arrives in a couple of days. :lol:

jojo4u
Posts: 806
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2002 7:00 am
Location: Germany

Post by jojo4u » Sun Jul 17, 2005 5:30 am

Benchmarks in the 08/05 issue of the C't.

reciprocal value of Linux Kernel make (the more, the better):
Ibase MB860 Efficion 1Ghz: 1284
VIA C3 1GHZ on CN400: 1165
DFI 855GME-MGF P-M 1,5GHZ: 3201

Cinebench 2003 rendering:
Ibase MB860 Efficion 1Ghz: 84
VIA C3 1GHZ on CN400: 45
DFI 855GME-MGF P-M 1,5GHZ: 201

Conclusion: Faster than C3, nowhere near P-M.
Last edited by jojo4u on Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

anaqer
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 11:31 pm

Post by anaqer » Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:02 am

Are those kernel compile times legit? 3201 secs for a P-M, that seems awfully slow compared to the others.

jojo4u
Posts: 806
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2002 7:00 am
Location: Germany

Post by jojo4u » Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:12 am

anaqer wrote:Are those kernel compile times legit? 3201 secs for a P-M, that seems awfully slow compared to the others.
sorry, corrected.

Copper
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 587
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2004 8:43 am

Post by Copper » Sun Jul 17, 2005 4:42 pm

Rusty075 wrote:From what I've read, they compare pretty well on a clock-for-clock basis with a Via, or AMD K7, or even a P4. But.....remember that the clock speeds for Transmeta's max out at 1Ghz.
It seems they have upped the speed a little. Here is a Sharp notebook with a 1.6 Transmeta:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834148010

perplex
Posts: 298
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:29 pm
Location: Club Tropicana

Post by perplex » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:21 pm

so no one actually owns one :? because VIA seems far from rare on this forum :o

after googling around a bit for their power consumption, sources seem to all say single digits which seems shocking :P - performance is obviously going to be hit though but for people that don't game and just check email, listen to music :P

|Romeo|
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 6:36 pm
Location: UK

Post by |Romeo| » Mon Jul 18, 2005 4:51 pm

I have a 1Ghz crusoe. It's very slow. I have an otherwise almost identical 1.2Ghz Centrino which kicks its ass in a huge (felt 2-3x as fast with half the RAM). As I said, the Efficeons are better, and if you can get an 88xx (which as far as I know, you can't for less than $800) you'd have a nice low power system that's perfect for multimedia work. See http://www.transmeta.com/developers/devkits_tmta.html

Post Reply