Who believes TBred is Socket-A compatible ?

[Serville]

I know there is still no info about this, but who believes it will be Socket-A or KT266A compatible ?
I want to know what people are thinking about this possibility.

Is there any chance to see XP 2200 ?

 

[KenCleanAirSystem]

AMD has said that all future Athlons will use the Socket A format. They have also recently stated that as long as motherboard manufacturers follow their specs future versions of the Athlon should work on their current Socket A motherboards.

 

[Serville]

I think I should have said it more clearly. Yes, it will still be pin-compatible to socket-A , but do you believe it will be running or supporting 266fsb.....or will that be a 333fsb ?
Sure, if it is a 333fsb, it will run fine at 266 as long as the multiplier can be unlocked. Otherwise, there is no point of running TBred with 266A chipset, unless we are satisfied with an underclocked cpu. Somehow I feel quite convinced, that this time around Tbred will be completely multiplier-locked, and that will present a big problem to be used in 266A board.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

Well, some of the 266A motherboards have already shown that they have the ability to get to 166 MHz FSB, so as long as it can do that it will be able to hold a 333 MHz FSB Thoroughbred at stock speeds. If this is your concern, then make sure you get a KT266A motherboard that allows FSB adjustments like a Soyo Dragon + or Epox 8KHA+ and not MSI (which doesn't let you adjust FSB past 133 MHz).

 

[ColdFlare]

higher fsb would mean new motherboard for sure, higher fsb means need fo rhigher divider if there isnt any. and ram that is needed to run at that frequency.

of course you can always downclock

 

[NelsonMuntz]

<< higher fsb would mean new motherboard for sure, higher fsb means need fo rhigher divider if there isnt any. and ram that is needed to run at that frequency.

of course you can always downclock >>


Some of the new motherboards already have higher dividers built in (Iwill XP333 does for sure, and others I think) as for RAM, yes you would need to have PC2700 RAM or something that could run at that speed. The question however was not if the RAM was compatible, but if the motherboard is, and I think a lot of the newer motherboards s/b able to handle this without much problem.

 

[ColdFlare]

the kt266a is rumored to have it, it is also rumored to have a dynamic divider if this is true, what happens to the older amd760 boards or the original kt266 boards? these people hafta upgrade i guess or force to run 133fsb.

 

[Rand]

AMD's official statement is still that the Thoroughbred and Barton cores will be 100% compatible with existing 133/266 capable SocketA chipsets, of course the motherboard must be able to supply the lower voltage that will be used on the thoroughbred and Barton cores.
Officially, both the Thoroughbred and Barton will be using a 266MHz FSB and will be exactly the same architecturally as the current Palomino core.... it will just be a basic die shrink of the Palomino core.

Again, this is only AMD's official statement, and this may change prior to introdution though I think that unlikely.

 

[ColdFlare]

i agree, i think amd will go the route of QDR besides ddr 333 atleast it seems like it. ddr333 is hardly to achieve because of the divider situation.

 

[sc0tty8]

<< Thoroughbred and Barton cores >>




:Q:Q Barton is my last name :Q:Q

I am SO getting one of them...The "Barton" machine

 

[JokerF15]

<< i agree, i think amd will go the route of QDR besides ddr 333 atleast it seems like it. ddr333 is hardly to achieve because of the divider situation. >>



IWILL has the XP333 board based on 333mhz DDR (AKA PC2700). So you would think that would be the next step, but i would expect something higher because the Northwood (Intels next chip) will be busting out a 533mhz system bus. For AMD to keep the heat on Intel it would have to increase the memory throughput and bandwith.

I hope it's socket a compatible =).

GO competition!

-JokerF15

 

[Egrimm]

<< Well, some of the 266A motherboards have already shown that they have the ability to get to 166 MHz FSB, so as long as it can do that it will be able to hold a 333 MHz FSB Thoroughbred at stock speeds. If this is your concern, then make sure you get a KT266A motherboard that allows FSB adjustments like a Soyo Dragon + or Epox 8KHA+ and not MSI (which doesn't let you adjust FSB past 133 MHz). >>


I see this rumor surfacing from time to time, read it in a review (can't remember if it was Anands, it eas rather good except for this "little" error). The MSI KT266A lets you adjust the fsb above 133Mhz easily, just change it in the bios like with all the other mobos. Sure, it can run a max of 164fsb but that pretty close to 166. If yuo then say that it must be because of a bios update the answer is no, it can be adjusted with the first bios released for the board, so the reviewer that wrote that it couldn't adjust beyond 133 was totally wrong.
I can run my MSI K7T Pro2 RU (KT266A) and my XP1600+ with a fsb of 160Mhz with all the bios-versions, for example.

Even though it would be nice if Thoroughbreed would be able to use our KT266A mobos there'll definitely be better performing mobos when it comes out so I guess most people would get a new mobo with the cpu anyway, the better performance would simply not make it worth keeping our then old KT266As.

 

[ColdFlare]

<<

<< i agree, i think amd will go the route of QDR besides ddr 333 atleast it seems like it. ddr333 is hardly to achieve because of the divider situation. >>



IWILL has the XP333 board based on 333mhz DDR (AKA PC2700). So you would think that would be the next step, but i would expect something higher because the Northwood (Intels next chip) will be busting out a 533mhz system bus. For AMD to keep the heat on Intel it would have to increase the memory throughput and bandwith.

I hope it's socket a compatible =).

GO competition!

-JokerF15 >>



iwill released 333 motherboard that is only gareentee to run at that speed, ther eis no official pc2700, so there cant be a official 333 motherboard. besides the chipset is ali, and ali is hardly a major player in amds future, i think they will focus on via instead. besides the iwill 333 ddr board and the ram scores are god damn aweful.

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

I bet I could get my AK31 to go a heck of a lot faster than 142Mhz if I had a 1/5 divider. Maybe the Thoroughbred will force this issue and a BIOS update will be forthcoming...

 

[Scitex]

<< Well, some of the 266A motherboards have already shown that they have the ability to get to 166 MHz FSB, so as long as it can do that it will be able to hold a 333 MHz FSB Thoroughbred at stock speeds. If this is your concern, then make sure you get a KT266A motherboard that allows FSB adjustments like a Soyo Dragon + or Epox 8KHA+ and not MSI (which doesn't let you adjust FSB past 133 MHz). >>



That's funny......my MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU is running at 140 FSB right now and can go even higher (164 according to most reviews I've read, if the rest of the system can handle it)

 

[NelsonMuntz]

You guys have the real world experience with the MSI KT266A board, I was just speaking from Tom's review, so if it was wrong I apologize and I promise to try harder not to perpetrate lies in the future.

 

[Serville]

It is true that the current KT266A chipset will most probably run no sweat at 150fsb, because most people have tried it. But higher than 150fsb, that is still a bet. Not everyone turns out to be successful ! On average, 150fsb is reachable for most people, but it will still be a problem trying to run TBred at 150fsb.

If TBred finally turn out to use 166fsb (333DDR) and starts at 2000MHz, that means the multiplier is 12x.
By running it at 150fsb only gives 1800MHz at the same default voltage. This is quite an underclock, and might cause a stability problem to KT266A users.

It would be soooo nice if AMD can make the TBred officially support both FSB (266 and 333) thru auto-detecting the board used, and then apply the correct multiplier automatically. I heard TBred will be able to self-initialize this multiplier internally due to built-in hardware in the core, unlike the current processors which should be initilized by bios.

 

[ColdFlare]

<< It would be soooo nice if AMD can make the TBred officially support both FSB (266 and 333) thru auto-detecting the board used, and then apply the correct multiplier automatically. I heard TBred will be able to self-initialize this multiplier internally due to built-in hardware in the core, unlike the current processors which should be initilized by bios. >>



auto detecting is no sweat for new bios, but this wil require new dividers for pci cards if the mobo is running 166 and pci divider is 1/4 that can cause some problems. the tbred i've heard is no difference from the palomino, except for the die shrink, but we shall see. if it has bridges then i think we are safe. if not we have to whip out our own pll chips

 

[Valnir]

My bet is there will be some 266mhz fsb TBred's and at some point they will start doing 333mhz fsb TBred's which will probably be the starting point for the next Athlon (*Barton?*) as well.

I think that's why Abit says the Kr7a is compatible with any "future" 200/266mhz fsb Athlons.

 

[ColdFlare]

<< I think that's why Abit says the Kr7a is compatible with any "future" 200/266mhz fsb Athlons. >>



no i think all motherboards say that, for higher clocked athlons.

 

[AGodspeed]

Officially, both the Thoroughbred and Barton will be using a 266MHz FSB and will be exactly the same architecturally as the current Palomino core.... it will just be a basic die shrink of the Palomino core.

I concur with Rand, it looks as if it'll be a double pumped 133MHz FSB until Hammer debuts (with an 800MHz FSB?).