Hi everyone. I sold a 1300 MHz Duron (200 FSB , Morgan core) to a newbie on Ebay, and she's having problems getting it to work with her Gigabyte GA-7IXE4. I think the motherboard has problems recognizing the processor, because the manual only specifies Athlon processors "up to 1000 MHz and above." So I suggested she contact Gigabyte to find out about compatibility. She wrote back to me and told me that Gigabyte says, "if it really is a 200fsb and not a 266fsb, will work with this motherboard."
I think this answer is sketchy for two reasons:
1) You should be able to tell tech support what processor you have, and they should be able to pull out a chart to tell you whether or not that exact processor has been tested to work on that motherboard. They shouldn't be making blanket statements about bus speeds, especially when there's a possibility that your board can recognize a Spitfire core at 200 FSB (the old processor) and not a Morgan core at 200 FSB (the new one).
2) The second thing that raises a red flag is that the person had to verify that the bus speed is 200 MHz and not 266 MHz. I don't even think AMD would make a 1300 MHz processor that runs at a 266 MHz bus. If you divide 1300 by 266 (it's actually 266.66666), you get 4.875, which is a junk number. Clock multipliers should be multiples of 1/4 right? I've seen 1400 MHz with 266 FSB, but not 1300 MHz with that FSB.
What do you guys think--does what I've said here sound reasonable? And if Gigabyte tech support is being not offering very good advice, do you guys have a guess as to the problem, or should she contact tech support again? This is just a simple CPU swap. Old CPU is a 800 MHz Duron, 200 FSB Spitfire core, and it still worked in the computer when she plugged it back in last time after being unsuccessful with the new one. Thanks a lot in advance!
Motherboard info here: link
I think this answer is sketchy for two reasons:
1) You should be able to tell tech support what processor you have, and they should be able to pull out a chart to tell you whether or not that exact processor has been tested to work on that motherboard. They shouldn't be making blanket statements about bus speeds, especially when there's a possibility that your board can recognize a Spitfire core at 200 FSB (the old processor) and not a Morgan core at 200 FSB (the new one).
2) The second thing that raises a red flag is that the person had to verify that the bus speed is 200 MHz and not 266 MHz. I don't even think AMD would make a 1300 MHz processor that runs at a 266 MHz bus. If you divide 1300 by 266 (it's actually 266.66666), you get 4.875, which is a junk number. Clock multipliers should be multiples of 1/4 right? I've seen 1400 MHz with 266 FSB, but not 1300 MHz with that FSB.
What do you guys think--does what I've said here sound reasonable? And if Gigabyte tech support is being not offering very good advice, do you guys have a guess as to the problem, or should she contact tech support again? This is just a simple CPU swap. Old CPU is a 800 MHz Duron, 200 FSB Spitfire core, and it still worked in the computer when she plugged it back in last time after being unsuccessful with the new one. Thanks a lot in advance!
Motherboard info here: link
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