The mobile Athlon 64 and motherboards

[xbdestroya]

Hey guys - well I've been lurking around Anandtech forever but the collection of knowledge here concerning Mobile Athlon 64's on desktops has motivated me to join the forums.

And you guys seem to have the preeminent collection of info on the Net here.

Anyway I'm building a system in an Antec Aria case and was lookign at the possibility of going with a 2800+ or 3000+ now, with an upgrade to whatever Mobile 64 might support SSE3 and in the future. So basically, are their any microATX boards that are known to boot Mobile Athlon 64's out of the box?

Any information is much appreciated

 

[guiltyj]

[answered; I'd delete this post if I knew how]

 

[NichowA]

IMPORTANT NOTE TO EVERYONE USING WD RAPTORS OR OTHER FAST HARD DRIVES

The Via VT8237 Southbridge (I have it on my Asus K8V SE Deluxe) is incompatible with these hard drives when they are used as the primary boot device and not in RAID. For some reason, it seems like during shutdown, the southbridge is unable to "keep up" with the hard drive, resulting in data loss and even physical damage to the disk. I had to get a 120GB drive to use as a boot device to get my system to run stable, which sort of defeats the putpose of the raptor to begin with.

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: NichowA For some reason, it seems like during shutdown, the southbridge is unable to "keep up" with the hard drive, resulting in data loss and even physical damage to the disk.

physical damage??? such as....?

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: NichowA
IMPORTANT NOTE TO EVERYONE USING WD RAPTORS OR OTHER FAST HARD DRIVES

The Via VT8237 Southbridge (I have it on my Asus K8V SE Deluxe) is incompatible with these hard drives when they are used as the primary boot device and not in RAID. For some reason, it seems like during shutdown, the southbridge is unable to "keep up" with the hard drive, resulting in data loss and even physical damage to the disk. I had to get a 120GB drive to use as a boot device to get my system to run stable, which sort of defeats the putpose of the raptor to begin with.

My understanding is that "WD RAPTORS OR OTHER FAST HARD DRIVES" are the "true" SATA HDDs. All other "slow hard drives" are basically IDE HDDs modded to work with SATA.

If what you say is true, that's kinda dumb of VIA to not truely support SATA HDDs. Perhaps there is another explanation.

 

[ng12345]

it doesn't look like anyone covered this

i know it says that the asus k8n-e is compatible with the mobile chips, but is the asus k8n-e deluxe compatible?

i'm trying to find a mobo with a firewire chip that i can use

 

[Rifleman70T]

Hello,

I've decided to get a DTR 3000+ processor and I need to get a working motherboard to go with it. I know that there are compatibility issues with some motherboards, and I've experienced them already with an ABIT KV8 Pro. Looking back on my choice - I know I didn't do enough research for this project.

My question is - the list of DTR compatible motherboards in the first post of this thread was last updated on 9/22/04, have there been any significant changes since then? Also, the list states that the Asus K8V Deluxe is compatible with DTRs, but what about it's sister? Is the K8V-X also compatible? http://usa.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=K8V-X&langs=09

Thanks in advance.

 

[c0V3Ro]

My experience with DTR:
I've successfully used my DTR 3200+ with the following boards and coolers:
- chaintech vnf3-250, needed bios actualization before;
- abit nf8
- dfi lp ut nf3-250gb.
- thermaltake polo735
- zalman 7000b-cu, with a little modification, I pull over the fan and put a little spring between the heatsink and the clip, than I reattach the fan. It?s working just fine.

 

[Rifleman70T]

Howdy,

Thanks for the info, did you have to use any tricks or reflash the bios with then ABIT NF8?
This is my main concern- because I don't have a spare 754 desktop CPU. I need the motherboard to work out of the box.

Also, re: XP-90 and XP-120
Looking at the Thermaltake website, these heatsinks don't come with backplates... how do they make contact with the CPU?

Thanks again.

 

[c0V3Ro]

The abit nf8 didn?t need the bios to be flashed.

The xp-90 and 120 are made by thermalRIGHT not take
and I think all the s754 and s939 need backplates.

www.thermalright.com

 

[Rifleman70T]

Hehe,

Cool. Then the NF8 looks appealing, that's probably the mobo I will go with then...

Thermalright, yes. Sorry that was a typo. But the question still stands... how good is the contact? From what I see - the XP-90's base is smaller than the frame of the Socket 754 retention bracket. What I mean is - I can see that the heatsink should be able to reach the CPU. But, the additional distance that the heatsink has to travel to reach the CPU core should translate into a lower pressure on the CPU core. Right?

Will travelling or LANning with this heatsink pose a problem?

Cheers

 

[c0V3Ro]

Just be aware that with the nf8 I only could reach high vcore by windows, with clock generator. Bios only accepted till 1,4V, don?t know why.
I think you are right, but the pressure problem can be solved by bending the clips, I guess.

 

[Rifleman70T]

Hmm,

That would be a problem then... because the DTR I have needs 1.5v. Is there a board that recognizes the CPU properly and gives the correct voltage for a DTR 3000+? I really don't care about overclocking.

 

[c0V3Ro]

The nf8 gives the right voltage for each dtr, in my case 1,4V. The problem is with overvolting by bios, I coudn't make it. Only in windows.

 

[IlllI]

i got a 3200 dtr to work in my SN85G4 Text

 

[Renderman]

After reading this complete topic i decided to buy a Mobile Athlon 64 3000+ and a MSI K8N Neo Platinum.

When i put the processor on the motherboard and turned the system on, it worked immidiatly. I quickly spotted that my new MSI K8N Neo PLatinum had bios version 1.4.

I was able to overclock my chip to 2,5 Ghz without much effort (only reduced htt to 3x and memory limited to 166Mhz in bios wich actually gives me 208Mhz)

This system is very stable and the performance is similar to a 2,6Ghz opteron.

So whatever problems there might have been with earlier versions of the board and/or bios,they are solved now. Mobiles work perfectly on the board.

I can definitly recommend this board to any Mobile Athlon 64 user. I also think the start post should be changed to reflect this.

My processor is a: AMD3000BKX4LB

Cpu-Z gives me the following information:

Mobile Athlon 64
512 Kb cache
35 watt
0,09 u
Winchester core

Running it at 1.35 volt 36 degrees Celcius at full load.

 

[c0V3Ro]

wow! 90nm winchester core for s754? is that right?

 

[Renderman]

Well thats what CPU-Z tells me. Is there any other way i can verify this?

 

[c0V3Ro]

you can use the everest:
http://www.lavalys.hu/pre/everesthome/everesthome_build_0250.zip

can you post a screen shot of cpu-z?

 

[ktgktg]

Originally posted by: c0V3Ro
wow! 90nm winchester core for s754? is that right?

Yes that's right. They've been around for two months now. See my post here.

Good to see that it works!!

Renderman: How low can you go with the Vcore at stock speed?

 

[ktgktg]

Have anybody seen any mobo maker mentioning mobile CPU's except for the MSI K8NM?

Update info for latest BIOS (1.1):
_______________________________________

- Support FSB to 450MHz.
- Fixed K8 MOBIL CPU ratio cannot adjust.
_______________________________________


I still wonder if it overclocks somewhere near the K8N mobos... not many µATX out there.
If you know anything about this one or have seen some info about overclocking, please post here!!

 

[Renderman]

Everest tells me the same as cpu-z:

Mobile AMD Athlon 64, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3000+
Winchester S754
DH7-D0
x86, x86-64, MMX, 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2
4x / 10x
64 KB (Parity)
64 KB (ECC)
512 KB (On-Die, ECC, Full)

The lowest voltage that it seems to be stable at (@ 2 Ghz) is 1,25 volt, now i must add that my current power supply isnt that good (300 watt advance) and my core valtage fluctuates between 1,20 amd 1.26 volts. So with a good PSU 1.2 would probably be stable.

I was also able to get it stable at 0.85 volts running 800 Mhz (200x4) . Performace is not great then, obviously but it does show what the cpu can do.

Will post screenshots when I find somewhere to upload them.

 

[jjburnett]

There is a wealth of information contained in this thread and related threads on the DTR processors. I am researching a whole new system to purchase. The one thing I am having trouble finding is a heatsink in stock that is compatible with the DFI mobo. The famed Thermalright has fallen off the face of the earth. Any help is appreciated.

-Also- In building a new DTR system with the DFI mobo, I am trying to get a system that will be pretty much Plug and Play with a BIOS update. I want a stable + powerful system that I can learn to OC on. Any other suggestions from your experiences? Help a noob today.

 

[freeman303]

Hi Renderman

I have read about your configuration.

Is on your system Cool&Quiet working properly? I mean: Does the processor clock down to 800 MHz at about 0,90 VCore in idle mode, and does it clock up to 2000 MHz at 1,20 Vcore automaticly? Could you check this please?

What is the range of VCore in BIOS you can adjust?

All the questions, because I want to build a LowPower Server that runs 24/7. Energy prices are very high here.

Thanks,
freeman303

 

[frostedflakes]

Renderman,

I recently purchased a 2800+ 90nm mobile. Unfortunately, though, mine is a cruddy overclocker. This is probably due to the fact that it's a week 30, which, correct me if I'm wrong, is pretty early in Winchester production.

So I'm curious, where did you get your 3000+ from, how much, and what week/stepping is it?

I also came by a site that sells 2800+ 90nm mobiles very cheap. Thought you guys might be interested.

http://www.memoryexpousa.com/amdatmo28754.html

Thanks.