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1.5V for a Sempron - Dangerous?

M

Micah

Senior member
Hi,

I've got an AOpen MK89-L motherboard, based on the nForce3-150 chipset. The mobo officially supports only the socket 754 Athlon64, but I've got a socket 754 Sempron 2600+ running just fine in it. The CPU is not recognized by the BIOS and is given some generic name like "Unknown CPU" or something.

According to official response from AOpen, there will be no BIOS updates to allow Semprons. They say:

MK89-L may be able to run the new Sempron processors however this is not recommended and we cannot guarantee the support for the CPU, though we can see (basing from your description) that it is working fine, the design and components used on the board will not be able to sustain it in the long run, additionally I¡¦m sorry to say that BIOS update for this issue will not be available.
Click to expand...

As far as I can tell, the only real difference from the mobo side is the voltage. Semprons are supposed to run at 1.4V and A64 at 1.5V It's been running fine, and the heat is not an issue. However, I'm a little frightened by the comment about "not be able to sustain it in the long run" I'd undervolt it, but it's not possible with this motherboard.

Am I damaging either/both my mobo and the CPU? I don't want to get an A64, since this is for an HTPC and the Sempron has plenty of CPU power, but I don't want to fry my system either.

What should I do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
The official response was that the latest bios would do nothing for me. Also, their BIOS flash tool is a Windows utility and I'd have to flash it from either Linux or DOS, neither of which I'm thrilled about. I'm toying with the idea, but this motherboard is actually pretty rare, and I don't want to flash it to death. Try to find an nForce3 based socket 754 mATX motherboard and you'll see what I mean.
 
If the only difference is that you're running the chip at 1.5v now, then you're fine. The sempron can handle a 7% voltage increase easily, and will last as long as its useful life permits.
 
1. DL latest Award Flash
2. DL latest bios
3. Put on floppy
4. Boot into DOS
5. type "A:\" type "BIOS flash utility name" and "BIOS file name" after.
6. hit enter
watch the magic.

That board was pretty popular (it's full ATX clone really was) and has good updates. I can't believe lastest bios dont support sempys
 
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