AMD Motherboards: Processor Support
by Wesley Fink on June 28, 2005 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
The Processor Factor
Another concern has raised its head in the last few months that should be a consideration for anyone shopping for an Athlon 64 motherboard - the processor factor. When we tested the nForce4 SLI boards we used the 4000+ clawhammer chip as our standard CPU. We also had done some testing with the early Winchester chips which were based on the 90nm production process instead of the 130nm process used for clawhammer. Overall these early 90nm chips were mainly a die-shrink, and performance - and compatability - were much the same whether clawhammer, winchester, or newcastle.Recently, however, we have some new choices from AMD in Revision E chips and dual-core. These new Revision E parts support SSE3, are based on the 90nm process, and they do not always behave as earlier chips did in the same motherboard. We saw this for ourselves in our Gold Editor's Choice MSI K8N Neo4/SLI. While we experienced outstanding overclocking with a clawhammer chip, users with Venice chips were experiencing perfectly miserable overclocking results. It has taken MSI some time to find a solution to this problem, but we are happy to report that a new BIOS has just been released that claims to fix the Venice issues on the MSI. The point of this is that the newest Athlon64 Revision E chips, code-named Venice and San Diego, do behave differently than earlier Athlon 64 chips in some boards. This is likely a temporary concern as the market adjusts to the newest CPU architectures, but it is a factor that should be considered.
This becomes an even larger issue with the new Toledo dual-core processors. The Athlon 64 X2 joins two Venice or San Diego cores on a single CPU. These Revision E X2 dual-core CPUs - the 4200+, 4400+. 4600+, and 4800+ - theoretically will work in any Socket 939 board. However, you will certainly need at least a BIOS upgrade. Most of the major manufacturers have quickly brought the needed BIOS upgrades to market, but if you plan to run a dual-core chip you need to check before you buy.
It should also be mentioned that AMD has implemented a hidden feature in Revision E processors, namely additional memory ratios that can be implemented in BIOS. We saw a Revision E chip mounted on the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 motherboard. Adding the new processor gave the additional options of 433, 466, and 500 to the available memory ratios. This has to be coded in the BIOS to be available, but the new asynchronous ratios are a feature of the Revision E Memory Controller.
The good news, unlike the Intel dual-core, is that just about any Socket 939 motherboard can run dual-core. But you will definitely need a BIOS update and you will definitely need to check to make sure the board you are looking at has an available BIOS supporting dual-core.
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Anton74 - Thursday, June 30, 2005 - link
Actually the ECS KN1 also seems to have nForce4 Ultra, not nForce4 as listed?http://www.ecsusa.com/products/kn1_spec.html
Anton74 - Thursday, June 30, 2005 - link
#40 / Wesley,I've noticed that out of all the nForce4 equipped boards on the list of supporting motherboards, there's only 1 with the nForce4 Ultra chipset, the Asus A8N-E (which by the way does also support rev. E4 according to the linked AMD page). The vast majority is either nForce4 of nForce4 SLI. Coincidence?
The ones that do support E3/E4/E6 are all some flavor of nForce4.
I was looking at an nForce4 Ultra board, with a dual core either now or in the future, so I'm very much looking forward to that roundup before making a decision. Looks like I may have to consider other nForce4 flavors as well. I'm also hoping to figure out if I can at least make the thing run long enough to do a BIOS update if needed, otherwise I might be in trouble, with no other Athlon 64's at hand. It's hard to tell what BIOS version one can expect when buying from an online retailer.
Why is it by the way that others, such as the EPoX 9NPA* Ultra which I was considering, do claim revision E support with a BIOS update on their web site, but didn't make it onto AMD's list? Do they not fully support the new CPU's as claimed?
Great article by the way.
BPB - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
From what I see on MSI's site the RS480M2-IL is in testing for X2 support, they do not say it is supported. Should I chance it?Markfw900 - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
I have bios 1.95 on my neo2 with a 4400+ working perfectly. Its a beta, and not on the MSI site. Duvie found it for me.T2k - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
On NF3 concerns: my NF3 Pro-based Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 is fine with X2 after you flashed the latest BIOS, confirmed by Gigabyte.nserra - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
I think its a little risky using the 1T rate with 4 banks, even if works "fine", AMD (or the mobo maker) cant afford to lose some stability even if slightly.bupkus - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
Link to next article, "A Look at Solaris 10 and Sun's Dual Core Fire V40z", is brokern.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
Zebo - Actually I'm finishing an nF4 Ultra roundup that should post in the next few days. The Abit Fatal1ty AN8 is one of the boards in the roundup.arswihart - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
Zebo - Think again. On AOAforums, the user LBJGH recently had a discussion with the Epox support staff, who said, concerning the new BIOS with X2 support for the 9nda3+, "we should have it ready by next week."Read this quote and the whole thread here:
http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31...
Zebo - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
Thanks a lot wes, great fact finding mission..It looks like I'll finally have to upgrade to PCIe since my epox 9NDA does'nt support dual core. Do you know if ASUS has fixed thier 1T cmd issue at high HTT?? Also would you guys review ABIT AN8 Ultra as it seems to be the only passive chipset design and at xtreme guys seem to be hitting 300+ HTT even so. Only thing I don't like is mem proximity in dual channel which makes cooling difficult..