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Will MBs always run with slower CPUs (same FSB)?

H

HepDude

Senior member
Hi!

I have a second PC with a Duron 800 CPU and the MB went bad (blown capacitor). I want to use the same Duron 800 for now (to save money).

I already have a spare Soyo K7VME (never used - it was an AT deal - free AR), which uses the Via KM-400 chipset, and the product information page says " Duron: 1.3GHz - 1.8 GHz ".

Would I be correct to say that the low end of that range is simply the slowest Duron that was available when the marketing people wrote the product description?

I tend to think so, because the Duron line did not change at 1.3GHz, they just increased the multiplier.

Or is there something about the chipset, MB or Bios that won't accept a slower Duron? (The FSB of the 800 is the same as the 1.3Ghz.)

Has anyone encountered a MB that won't run older CPUs with the same FSB (and same socket, of course)?
 
If they are the same socket then it should be no problem. You can always go to your mobo's site and they should list all compatible CPU's for your board.
 
My take is that the Duron 800 should run with no problems with the Soyo board as long as the board supports 100MHz (effective 200MHz) FSB.
 
Originally posted by: StrangerGuy
My take is that the Duron 800 should run with no problems with the Soyo board as long as the board supports 100MHz (effective 200MHz) FSB.
Click to expand...

Try it, however your Mobo and your CPU won't damage, In the worst case your monitor will keep blinking.
 
Actually, I'm waiting for the memory for the MB to be delivered, which will be another couple of days.

I was just hoping someone might have had some experience with this, so that if it was definitely not going to work, I could save waiting several days more for a new CPU to arrive by ordering one today.

But, otherwise I'll just try it when the memory arrives.
 
Edited:
According to MSI, their KM400 mobo will run at 100 FSB but it won't do the old Durons... Don't know about Soyo (edit: Went to their K7VME page and it looks like the same as MSI as it doesn't support any of the older Athlons either.) . On the Duron, those below 1300 (actually 1330) ran at 100 FSB, 1400 and up run at 133 FSB.
. If your Duron's multiplier is unlocked, you may be able to kick it up enough to run (though the Via integrated chipsets usually don't offer a user adjustable multiplier) - a 33% overclock might be stretching it a bit. Hope you have a stout HSF...
.bh.

Where's the :sun: ?
 
edit: you found it while I was searching their site 🙂 The Duron will work.
 
I was just thinking that maybe Soyo was thinking in terms of Default Core Voltage, but they are all over the place:

Duron 800 (200Mhz FSB, Spitfire Core) - 1.6V
Duron 1300 (200Mhz FSB, Morgan Core) - 1.75V
Duron 1400 (266Mhz FSB, Applebred Core) - 1.5V
 
For future reference, I found:

Chart of all AMD Socket-A and Slot-A processors

which has FSB, voltage, core design, etc.

(and indicates that Durons with 266 and Applebred cores started with 1400, so the Soyo statement: " Duron: 1.3GHz - 1.8 GHz " doesn't make any sense (either they meant 1.4Ghz, or they chose 1.3Ghz because that was the slowest one being made at the time).
 
All I know is what their spec sheet says and it cuts off at 1300 for Duron and 1800+ for XP... Here is the info from the Quick Start Guide for that mobo:
Supports AMD 462 pins Socket A processors :
- Athlon XP (Palomino/Thoroughbred/Barton)
(200/266/333 MHz FSB)
- Duron/Morgan

. So there may be some other issue besides FSB for the old Duron - maybe no available multiplier that low??? And even though MSI KM4 supports 100MHz FSB also, it won't run the old Durons. Luckily you can still get a Duron 1600 or 1800 cheap at Newegg - they are amazing!
.bh.
 
If the Duron 800 won't run on it, then rather than buy a Duron 1600 at Newegg for $44, I might as well use my Dragon+ in that PC, and use the K7VME in my PC and get a Barton 2500+ for $80 at Newegg.

That would (I assume) cut down the time on some of the AVI-to-MPEG2 encodes that I sometimes do.
 
Whatever works for you. I don't know much about Soyo - they aren't on my short list. I figure any mobo company that has yet to see the wisdom of the P4-12V connector for Socket-A mobos, doesn't need my money..
.bh.

Where's the :sun: ?
 
The Soyo K7VME does have a P4-12V connector ( look at the top right corner next to the CPU in this closeup ).

PS With MBs, I tend towards considering reliability first, followed by features second.

When I bought my Soyo Dragon+, it was very popular here on the AT Forums, and it has been by far my most reliable MB and PC (although I have certainly not used all brands of MB). I had an MSI and I was constantly having to re-flash the BIOS to try and fix some problem or another, and eventually a flash failed and I had to get MSI to send out a new flash BIOS chip, but the MB failed soon after that. I almost bought a Gigabyte after that, solely due to their dual-BIOS-chips. 🙂

In fact, I've reconsidered and will take the advice of Newegg's Duron 1600 at $44 IF the Duron 800 doesn't work - simply because this PC has been so stable, I don't want new problems. I'd rather go in the direction of eventually replacing it with an Athlon 64 if I'm going to bother at all.
 
Well dad gum. How'd I miss that - thought I scoured the pic on Soyo's site pretty good. They've seen the light. You can get by with a lower cost/power PSU when your mobo runs the CPU on 12V. So you can put your Athlon/Duron microATX mobo in those cool new compact cases like the Athenatech 100 series and the new AOpen H360 w/o also having to buy an upgraded PSU.
. My top choice in the KM400 arena is still the DFI as it was the first with the 8237 = SATA (and very reliable too)... The second generation of several others now has it as well as the KM400A. Nothing like an excess of a surplusage of good choices!
.bh.
 
Originally posted by: Zepper
All I know is what their spec sheet says and it cuts off at 1300 for Duron and 1800+ for XP... Here is the info from the Quick Start Guide for that mobo:
Supports AMD 462 pins Socket A processors :
- Athlon XP (Palomino/Thoroughbred/Barton)
(200/266/333 MHz FSB)
- Duron/Morgan

. So there may be some other issue besides FSB for the old Duron - maybe no available multiplier that low??? And even though MSI KM4 supports 100MHz FSB also, it won't run the old Durons. Luckily you can still get a Duron 1600 or 1800 cheap at Newegg - they are amazing!
.bh.
Click to expand...

I think that it might have to do with the CPU bus impedence-tuning resistor specs; those changed between the older Athlons and the newer Athlon XP CPUs, perhaps the older chips therefore do not run reliably in the newer mobos. That's my guess anyways.
 
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