Dual Core MB

I take it if I buy a MOBO with an older firmware, and buy a CPU which
is supported with newer firmware, there is no way to flash the bios
with this new CPU? I would need to *borrow* an older CPU? Or can I
underclock the CPU and flash the bios?
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Core MB 

In article <1121808222.810046.47590.DeleteThis@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
edavid3001.DeleteThis@gmail.com wrote:

> I take it if I buy a MOBO with an older firmware, and buy a CPU which
> is supported with newer firmware, there is no way to flash the bios
> with this new CPU? I would need to *borrow* an older CPU? Or can I
> underclock the CPU and flash the bios?

It depends.

For the dual core processors, the claim is, you can "limp" along,
as long as the BIOS supports other rev.E processors.

For the single core processors, sometimes placing a single DIMM
in slot B1 (which is 64 bit mode, and B1 is a DIMM slot on the
primary bus) is enough to get the board to POST. The cpusupport
page actually contains comments for some processors, that the
B1 DIMM trick will work.

As a general rule, Asus BIOS are not set up to be flexible with
respect to unknown processors. Rather than simply select a low
voltage and frequency, and leave the cache disabled etc., the
BIOS simply refuses to go any further when it runs into a CPU
ID it doesn't recognize.

Whether a clever person could write a BIOS that could run any
processor in "valet" mode, is anyone's guess. On the processors
I've worked on, the processor designers are usually pretty good
at making the processor come up in a usable state (like all caches
disabled), and in principle, it really should not be that tough
for the BIOS to provide limited functionality. I guess Asus
doesn't see it that way.

Paul
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Core MB 

On my p3v4x at BIOS 1003, the motherboard doesn't identify my PIII 933.
Says unknown/invalid. But everything works just fine, and the BIOS
does allow me to select 933MHZ w/proper settings.

Reason I added my question is I was looking at getting a used 845
chipset mother board such as the P4B or P4X* and putting a new
processor on it. Cheap upgrade so I didn't have to buy new memory
(PC133) etc... I noticed the motherboards supported newer CPU's but
needed newer firmware than these motherboards on eBay had. Of course,
these motherboards wouldn't support Hyperthreading either.

I guess the question with a dual core is a bit different.
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Core MB 

In article <1121869275.798374.234370 RemoveThis @z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
edavid3001 RemoveThis @gmail.com wrote:

> On my p3v4x at BIOS 1003, the motherboard doesn't identify my PIII 933.
> Says unknown/invalid. But everything works just fine, and the BIOS
> does allow me to select 933MHZ w/proper settings.
>
> Reason I added my question is I was looking at getting a used 845
> chipset mother board such as the P4B or P4X* and putting a new
> processor on it. Cheap upgrade so I didn't have to buy new memory
> (PC133) etc... I noticed the motherboards supported newer CPU's but
> needed newer firmware than these motherboards on eBay had. Of course,
> these motherboards wouldn't support Hyperthreading either.
>
> I guess the question with a dual core is a bit different.

I have a P4B motherboard. You would want a revision 1.5 or later
motherboard, if you want the motherboard to be equipped with
the (new at the time) AGP_WARN circuit. That circuit prevents
a miskeyed (older) video card, from burning the motherboard
Northbridge. If you plan on using only newer video cards (say
two or three years old), that would not be a concern.

When I got my P4B, the advice I got, was not to bother buying
more than a 1.8GHz processor. The reason being, the RAM on the
board is so slow, upping the core frequency of the processor
won't really help a lot. My P4B still has its 1.8GHz processor.

DDR memory is cheap right now (at least the last time I looked
it was). The price of DDR memory is going to go up soon, so
don't wait around. Buy a couple 512MB DDR sticks, and get
yourself a more modern motherboard than the P4B. There are
some motherboards that have a LGA775 socket and take DDR memory
(like a P5P800). That would be a much better investment as
an upgrade. There are also S478 DDR motherboards, and you
can still find S478 processors, on a site like Newegg.

I actually got my P4B motherboard, for the very same reason
you are proposing right now. I had 3x512MB SDRAM and didn't
want to throw them away. I got the board quite a while ago,
and it is past its prime. No problems with it, though.

Paul
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Core MB 

Okay, thank you. I think I'm going to get one of the a8n-sli models
and just put together a new PC, making my current PC my daughters. I
bought a 450MHZ (?) at first, then bought the 933MHZ when the price
dropped to around $99. Many other upgrades over the years. But this
dog's ready to retire. It does everything well except for playing the
very latest games.
 >> Stay informed about: Dual Core MB