Need some expert advice: Gateway Intel 810 mainboard CPU upgrade, how high can I go?

[Skitzer]

My friend has a Gateway Essential 433c system that uses an Intel 810 mainboard. He wants to get a little more life out of it so we have upgraded the 32 megs of ram to 256 megs and we've got a Voodoo 3 3000 PCI card coming and should have that early next week. I have emailed and called Gateway concerning a CPU upgrade but they have not replied to my email and since his warranty is up they will not provide me with tech support, (won't even answer a simple question!). I have looked all over the web and can't find the answer as to how fast of a Celeron this mainboard will run. We have decided a P3 is too expensive.

Question: Does anyone know for sure if this mainboard will take a Celeron 700 or higher?

We have flashed the bios to the latest one on the Gateway website, (it was dated Dec 2000). The 810 chipset supposedly auto detects processor voltage from 1.3 to 2.05 so voltage shouldn't be a problem. On the Intel website they recommend not going over 600mhz with the older 810 boards due to Vcc and Vtt requirements that the board doesn't support. I don't have a clue what that means, (they say Celerons over 600 require split planes or something like that). But then I see systems being sold with 810 chipsets, (not the 810E), with 1.1 Gig Celerons so I'm very confused about this.

Any help you can give is very greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!

 

[AndyHui]

The differences between the i810 and the i810E is that the i810E supports the 133MHz FSB, and has an updated integrated onboard video core.

This is not a chipset issue, but really dependent on the implementation on the motherboard. If Intel says the maximum is 600MHz, then they are usually right, as they build their boards with lots of headroom from the time they are actually manufactured.

 

[Skitzer]

I know what the differences are between the 810 and 810E chipsets, that is not the issue. Intel does not say "which" 810 boards they say "older" 810 boards, (I was just trying to provide some perspective). Depending on the revision, Intels own 810 mainboards will run a Celeron 766. Also like I said there are manufacturers out there such as e-machines who are still using the 810 chipset and running 1.1 Gig Celerons. Here is some confusing information from CompUPlus Celeron 1.2 Gig. Notice the chipsets that support this CPU. "Intel Chipset support: Intel® 810 chipset, Intel® 810E chipset, Intel® 810E2 chipset, Intel® 815 chipset, Intel® 815E chipset, Intel® 815EP chipset, Intel® 440BX, Intel® 440ZX and the Intel® 440ZX-66 AGPsets". Now taken on face value the Gateway board should be able to run this CPU.

All I'm asking is if anyone knows for sure that you can run a Celeron 700 or higher on my friends Gateway 810 Bryant mainboard.

Thanks for your input, it is appreciated.

 

[oldfart]

Try the alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 Usenet group. You should find an answer there.

 

[Skitzer]

oldfart, just went there and posed the question. Hopefully I'll get an answer. If not I guess I'll have to experiment on my own. I have another friend who has a Celeron 600 that I can borrow to see if it will post and run on this mainboard but I would prefer not to do it that way. I suppose that if it does run then I should be able to go all the way up to a 766 without a problem.
Thanks for your advice, it is appreciated 🙂

 

[Skitzer]

Question answered and issue resolved.
Just contacted Gateway again and they decided to answer my question. With the latest bios flash the mainboard will accept a Celeron up to 766 and a Pentium 3 FC-PGA up to 850. I have just bought a Retail P3 700 off a guy at the For Sale/Trade forum for $70 shipped.
Hopefully this $140 upgrade to 256 megs of ram, Voodoo 3 3000 and P3 700 will extend the life of this computer for another year or so.
Thanks oldfart for steering me in the right direction.