Intel 440 BX motherboard for all u vets

Senor_Fudge

Anyone know the processor limitations to this board
it doesnt state it in the manual as it came out years ago
also is it pc 100 ram it takes

this is aimed at all u computer vets out there who remember about 4 5 years ago
thanks lads if ye can help

byte

Is it a Gateway PC?

I have a Gateway PC, and I'm nearly sure it's an Intel 440 BX mobo. It's running a 550Mhz P3.

Let me know if you find out anything...

Senor_Fudge

no its not a gateway its custom built pc
well now i know it can take a 550 processor ^_^

BigEejit

What is the make and model of the motherboard? ... is it slot 1 or socket 370? depending on age and socket it could accept up to 1GHz

Sir Random

It should take any 100fsb cpu. I think they made them up to 1Gb, maybe 900Mhz? The 133's started around 750Mhz, but I don't think they're compatible with a 100Mhz board.

po0k

Depending on the board (supported voltages, BIOS revisions etc.)
it could support anything from a max of 700-800Mhz to 1.13Ghz

Gerry

You need to post up a more specific model number. Is the board made by intel? If so, is it a se440 bx or something? Surely theres some sort of model number in the manual?
Afaik, the se440 2 and 3 can take coppermines, but you can't set 133fsb in the bios, so you are stuck with 100fsb chips ( can get them up to 1ghz, but rare. ) If you can set 133 in the bios, you can run up to a 1.4ghz p3-s. Thats what I'm running myself, with an upgradeware slotket, on an ancient tekram board It has no 1/4 pci divider, but everything works..

elexes

im betting its a slot processor in that case ur stuck with a p3 550 at best

Gerry

Originally posted by elexes
im betting its a slot processor in that case ur stuck with a p3 550 at best

erm, I was referring to slot1 motherboards and cpu's. Slot1 cpu's were made up to 1ghz ( 1.13 got pulled ), and you can always use a slotket if you have a slot1 board.

Senor_Fudge

its a Ms7070s they might be zeroes i dunno
its intel and i bought it in june 1999 when it was fairly top of the range
ah
happy days ^_^

Senor_Fudge

oh and its a matsonic as well

slot 1 cpu socket with folding retention mechanism
switching power module 1.8v ~ 3.5v, .1v increments

award bios system

BigEejit

if you put that model number into google the very first link shows all the specs for that mobo (along with a heap of porn banners) ... you can get up to P3 600

netman

In general you can upgrade that a lot more than the manufacturer states.
Mainly because no faster processors were available when the documentation was written. In case of online documentation, manufacturers don't always bother to update it.

I had an ABIT BX motherboard (slot-1) and the last CPU I used on it was a 1 GHz Pentium III (coppermine, FCPGA packaging) overclocked to 1.2 GHz. I just had to get a FCPGA to Slot-1 adapter.

If you can get a FCPGA2 to Slot-1 adapter, you could use one of the newer Tualatin cores. I believe they go up to 1.4 GHz but I'm a bit out of touch there.

The adapters have a new voltage regulator on them, so even if your motherboard only supports the old Pentium III (before coppermine) the new processors will work. You'll only need to get an updated BIOS for your motherboard to recognise the new processor. Just check the manufacturer's website for the latest BIOS and check the release notes if they have any. Usually it will say something like "microcode update for tualatin 1.4 GHz".

There are some issues with some motherboards, it's a bit of hit-and-miss, but in general I haven't found any yet that wouldn't support the new processor one way or another. For example, the ancient Asus P2B doesn't support lower voltages needed for coppermine. If you just plug the processor in, the system won't boot. But if you select a higher voltage on the adapter (one that is supported by the motherboard) it works fine. Overvolting is not such a big issue, overclockers do it all the time. Just pick the lowest match. (for example if the processor requires 1.5v and your motherboard only supports voltages from 1.8v - select 1.8v on the adapter)

Senor_Fudge

thanks a lot thats a great help
do u still have that chip and adapter
ill pay ya for them if u want to sell them
ill give ya a nice reasonable price too

netman

I'm afraid I sold them quite a long time ago. But I've tried this on ABIT BH6 and ASUS P2B motherboards, both ancient, and one of the early Intel 440BX motherboards, and the new processors worked fine on both.

Check www.ebay.co.uk and do a search for "slocket" - that's the term commonly used for Socket to Slot adapter. (Socket 370 to Slot 1 in your case). And you can check the same place for some FCPGA Socket 370 processors. You should be able to find some stuff cheap.

Gerry

The tualatin processors are extremely good, I have one myself. Its a p3 1.4-s, with 512k cache. Roughly as fast as a p4 1.8, maybe even a 2gig for some stuff. I got an upgradeware slot-t slotket for it. Jes-computer
have them.

You can also use a powerleap , but the upgradeware is cheaper. Advantage of the powerleap: it has a built in voltage regulator, so if your board cannot drop to 1.5v, the powerleap will provide the 1.5v itself. Afaik, your board cannot go below 1.8. As netman says, this is not a major problem, but the chip will run a bit hotter ( about 44% hotter ). One of the main advantages of the tualatin is that it runs extremely cool ( about 1/3rd the heat of a p4 ), it would be a pity to lose out on that.

Your board will not display the name and speed of the chip properly. None of the bx manufacturers have integrated tualatin microcode into their official bios releases, as the tualatin is not officially supported. So it will come up as a p3, and the mhz may be displayed wrong. But the chip will run at the correct speed.
Take note that there are 2 types of tualatin, pentium-s ( 133 fsb, 512k cache ) and celeron ( 100fsb, 256k cache ). Your board will run at 133, so you could run a pentium-s cpu on it, but more than likely the pci bus will be running at 44mhz ( 133/3 ) instead of its proper 33mhz ( 133/4 ), so you run the risk of some pci cards not working reliably. Having said that, 44mhz pci is working fine for me, with 3 pci cards in the system, including a tv/capture card which I thought would be fussy. Let us know how you get on.