Intel VC820 and CPU Question....... Please read if you have it

[her209]

Hi Anandtechies

I currently have this configuration:

Intel VC820 + Onboard Sound
Samsung PC800 128MB RDRAM
Pentium (533EB?) 733Mhz
Hercules Prophet II 64 GTS
Adaptec 29160 SCSI Card
Netgear FA311 NIC

I am trying to find out the "true" speed of my processor. I bought it from a guy on eGay and is was supposed to be a 733EB OEM. However, after installing it and running BIOS (changed jumber) for the mobo, it said I have a 533EB Processor. I have run the processor at 733Mhz (assuming it was 733) for 3.5 months now. I am not sure if the BIOS is wrong or what? I have flashed it and it still says 533EB. I ran Sandra Benchmarks on it and it tested out to 733 specs. I pushed it up to 800 last night and it was fine. Again ran the benchmarks program and it tested to 800 benchmarks. I thought that was remarkable. Not sure what the 820 chipset has for dividing the PCI bus and AGP bus. If the PCI bus works the same way as it does for the BX chipset, that would mean my FSB is running at insanely high speed especially when I clock the CPU for 800 Mhz. I calculated it based on the BX calculations and came up with a 200Mhz FSB... I know the PCI and AGP bus cannot divide this enough to run at 33Mhz and 66Mhz respectively.

Can someone please tell me what the heck is going on with my computer? Is my BIOS wrong or something? 200Mhz FSB is crazy!!!

Any input would be appreciated, especially from those with a similar setup.

Thanks!!

 

[her209]

Anyone at all?

 

[her209]

In desperate need of help here.

 

[KR]

Can you post the Identifying markings from the chip? From what you've described the chip is indeed a 733 and the bios is mis-identifying it. Since essentially all (except for engineering samples) PIII's are multiplier locked, setting the FSB to 133 should tell you what you have.

All EB devices are set to use 133FSB so with a locked multiplier of 4 you'd get the 533 mentioned. A 733 part is locked at a 5.5 multiplier.

I've seen my ABIT board report my device as being a 533EB as well - but this was when I'd let it try to decipher the ID when the bios didn't have the personality info for my chip (a PIII-800E) and showed it at the default setting of 66MHZ FSB (which the chip over-rode with it's pin-outs).

The chipsets and mobo's seem to have a fail-safe default which uses the native chip pin-out configuration when the bios doesn't recognize the ID... this may be what's happening with your system.... and report whatever they do, regardless.

Make sure you have the latest bios from the MFR and check that it does support your chip's speed, otherwise you may just see some erronious reporting from the bios.

Hope this helps

 

[her209]

Thanks for replying. Glad, but not happy about it, that i am not only me that this is happening to.

I will try a BIOS update.

And I will post the stepping markings on the CPU for you guys to decipher.

 

[her209]

Where would one find the markings of the CPU anyways.

 

[AndyHui]

If your processor is Slot 1, then the markings are at the top of the cartridge.

How did you manage to get your CPU up to 800? The processor is supposed to be clock locked and there are no options for overclocking on the motherboard as it is completely auto-detect.

 

[her209]

For the Intel VC820 mobo I have, when I change the jumper on the mobo to go into BIOS, it has a Maintenence menu option that allows me to set the processor speed anywhere between 450mhz to 1.06ghz. I ran the Sandra demo version CPU benchmarks and it clocked to about the speed which I set it to, with about -2Mhz difference. I don't know if this is the case for every VC820 mobo out there or just the case for my cpu. Do you know? The processor is a 733 as it has some markings about Intel Confidential ... then some more numbers and at the very end has xxxx733256.

Can you get back to me on this?

 

[KR]

It seems you have an engineering sample device which may be multiplier unlocked. As for the motherboard, it also sounds like a sample since the standard board does not provide for changing the speed in the bios. Since it is working and you have some "special" features, it's probably best to leave the bios alone and live with the mis-identified device at boot-up, since it seems to be working otherwise. Flashing the bios may take away the ability to change the frequency multiplier and take the board back to "stock".

That would be a fun chip to try in an overclocking motherboard to see just what its potential is... you may have a very special chip.

 

[her209]

Ive flashed the bios to P16 version last night. Haven't tried changing jumper yet. Will definitely try when I get home and update you.

Thanks!

 

[her209]

I got the Mobo from someone who replaced their CC820 for a VC820 with the 128 RDRAM.

 

[her209]

What are the "normal" markings BTW?

 

[her209]

Here are the markings off the CPU


Intel Confidential QH29ES
99388008-0246 MALAY
i(m)(c) '99 80526PZ733256

Can anyone confirm this as the "normal" markings or do I have an Engineering Sample?

Thanks yo!

 

[AndyHui]

Yes, you have an Engineering sample. Normal Retail or OEM processors do not have the top line. Normally there are only 2 lines of markings.

 

[diabolos]

Yes, you do have a Engineering sample, and depending on the core you should be able to overclock it pretty well just by changing the speed during config mode in the bios. I have a 866 sample, and it has been running great at 1gig for 2 weeks now. The only problem I have had is with 3dmark. It crashes back to the desktop after 5 min, but I can play games for hours with no problems.

 

[her209]

I tried overclocking and the highest the CPU was able to run at was 800. Sadly, at 866 my PCI bus was not too stable and my hard drive was unable to be read. At 933 my system would not start.