Is the chipset the main determinant of the fastest cpu a mobo can handle?

[PaperclipGod]

I've got an old Compaq laptop (Presario 730US) which is using a proprietary mobo based on the FIC AZ-11E. The FIC board (and the compaq) use the VIA KM133 chipset (variant of KT133 w/ onboard graphics), with a max FSB of 133mhz. It's a Socket-A board that shipped with a 1 GHz Duron.

Assuming the bios will allow it, would I be able to install any Socket-A AMD processor that can utilize the 133mhz FSB? If so, I think that would let me upgrade all the way to an Athlon XP 2400+, or perhaps even a Sempron 3400+. If the bios does not support those faster chips, is there any other way to get them recognized, short of hacking the bios?

Is there anything else I'm overlooking that might prevent this board from using the XP chips?

 

[Blain]

The XP 2400+ uses a clock multiplier of 15 on a 133MHz FSB.
Your MB dip switches only go up to 12.5.

"Socket A" Sempron's only go up to a 3300+ which use a clock multiplier of 11, but runs on a 200MHz FSB.

 

[PaperclipGod]

So, would I be able to run it at a lower multiplier and be able to drop the vcore? That'd actually be a fair trade considering it'd be used in a laptop.

 

[Blain]

The old chipset still may not support a newer Thoroughbred core.

Bottom line: If your KM133 chipset/BIOS will support the Thoroughbred CPU core, you've got a shot at running a faster processor slower.

 

[Andrew1990]

I think the old KM133s had problems with Athlon XPs. The KM133As were fixed to solve this issue I believe.