AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

[eccerr0r]

Is there a way I can get higher multipliers on old AMD motherboards?

Was looking at an old socket A board that does not support AthlonXP's. It has a BIOS multiplier limit that's not quite high enough, which is fine for the old clock unlocked Athlons. What happens if I stick an AthlonXP that needs a higher multiplier?

If I'm stuck at the highest BIOS set multiplier, is it possible to get a higher multiplier than the limit, or would it work like Intel boards that automagically use the chip locked multiplier regardless of what the BIOS is set?

[stj]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

so what does the board do?
last time i tried this the bios refused to run because it didnt recognise the cpu i.d.

[eccerr0r]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

Don't know yet, only heard anecdotal evidence that it will "work" but wanted to get all the ducks in a row, and this definitely could be an issue...

So the time you tried, the bios just said "unknown cpu, system halted" or didn't bother trying to boot?

[stj]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

it said unknown cpu i.d. and just sat there.
this was an msi board.

[eccerr0r]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

Ah. doh. This is an abit board, so not sure. Only "good" sign is that the abit bios has overclocking features, just that its multiplier does not go up all the way.

[brethin]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

No you can't get a higher multiplier but you can use a lower one and a higher FSB speed,. It's called overclocking.��

[brethin]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

Some boards can be forced flashed to a different board with higher multiplier but you don't say what board and cpu you are trying to use so it's hard to help.

[stj]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

so there are no bios updates? even hacked ones?

[brethin]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

He does state what board and cpu he is trying to use so it's impossible to give help.

[televizora]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

You can try increasing the FSB. Although on these old boards it is most likely that FSB is tied to the frequency of the AGP/PCI and dramatically changing the FSB would lead to AGP/PCI cards running out of spec and possible problems from this. Most of these boards do not support AGP/PCI locking.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

I doubt motherboards made before the second half of 2001 are even electrically compatible with Athlon XP.

[eccerr0r]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

Yeah I'm slightly worried about the default voltage of 1.85 volts I think, but the board can reduce the voltage to what it should be. Just that the multiplier and FSB speeds aren't up to snuff.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

Default for T-bird, is usually 1.75V.

Thoroughbred and Barton are 1.65V for the usual desktop variants.

2.4 at 1.80V is usually a golden sample. Even more so if you can hit 2.43 at 1.80V. (For the usual desktop variants)

[eccerr0r]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

I suspect the jumpers on the OPGA are "read" via firmware and plugged into the multiplier versus directly used? I wonder what kind of mapping and perhaps it will map some of the lower multipliers to higher ones, like what my Celeron 1200 does (it reports like 174MHz CPU as the FW has no idea what CPU it is... though the multiplier is correct!)

Hope something like this for the athlon is possible. The most annoying hurdle is that this board is 100/200MHz FSB and the XP is 133/266MHz so I'll lose some speed there...

[stj]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

check the chipset - maybe it can do 133/266

[eccerr0r]

Re: AMD AthlonXP multipliers on old motherboards...

Not KT133's... despite its name...