Athlon XP working as MP function?

[danny13]

Does anyone know if an XP will work fine on a board such as the Tyan Tiger MP? I've heard rumors that the XP core is basically the same as the MP and should work okay on a MP mode.

Thanks. Just trying to save $$$. The Tiger board is now below $200 if anyone is interested...

Tom

 

[n18mets]

I have heard that they currently work, but AMD may prevent them from working in the future. Also:

The advantages of buying MPs:
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1) Guaranteed to work, or your money back.

2) Tech support provided by vendor and AMD for MPs in dual mode, not for XPs.

3) Likely to void warranty if using dual XPs in a dual MP board.

4) XPs may one day be SMP-disabled.

5) MPs come unlocked; XPs do not.

Worth the extra dollars, for my money."
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this analysis was originally written by BLUEGENE of maximumpc forums.

 

[Xelloss]

Disadvantage = $$$

I've got a friend running dual XPs in a Tyan Tiger MP and he says they work just fine.

It is true that AMD might SMP disable on the XPs in the future, but I tend to believe that is they were planning to, they already would have. It's much easier (and cheaper) to simply manufacture identical processors and slap different labels on them.

Anyway, the choice is up to you, but personally, I think buying MPs over XPs is just money down the drain. (Now if AMD slapped some more cache on there to give us a Xeon style processor....)

 

[Wind]

The XP is able to work in SMP config. So far...no one reported tht XP will now run SMP config stable.

 

[Mikendi]

Actually most modern AMD CPU's are SMP enabled. I'm running two regular Tbirds in SMP on my Tiger MP although I'm thinking of getting MP's or at the very least XP's to take advantage of the lower voltage. The Tiger MP is not an overclocking board so if you wanted to OC you'd need to buy some Golden Sockets @ $50 ea to up the multiplier then close the (I think) L7 bridges to increase the voltage. Tom's Hardware has a how to about it do a search.