hello all. i ordered a 8400 wolfdale from newegg that will be here tomorrow. problem is when i was on the phone with asus to get a new bios chip (i frizzle fried mine when i attempted to flash bios using asus' handy update utility ) anyways i told him i was getting the wolfdale and asked if my p5w supported it...he said no!! so i also ordered a lower end oem mobo (asrock Penryn1600SLI-110dB ) well...a wise wise man from toms hardware directed me to a link that took me straight to asus' download site and there is the 8400 listed under the p5w as a supported cpu after doing a little reading i couldnt find anything definative, but some have claimed i would still have to overclock to get to the stock 1333 fsb. i would like to use my p5w, but i dont want to have to oc it. so my question is...when the new cpu arrives...can i pop my 6400 out put the 8400 in...WITHOUT....re hooking up the heatsink?? basically, do i have to go through the whole process of applying the thermal paste, attaching heatsink and fan, if i only want to turn it on long enough to see how the mobo reacts to the new cpu and what settings its at?? i dont want to hurt anything, ill gladly proceed with plan "A" which is to just use the mobo thats 45nm supported right out the box and scrap the p5w. thanks in advance for your help.

also......they did send me the new bios chip with the latest bios (2704) already flashed to it. i already have it installed. working like a champ! makes me want to keep it even more. lol

Well just to see if the board boots with it you should be fine without a heat sink but don't keep it running for more than 5 to 10 seconds. I once accidently ran my overclocked Q6600 with the liquid cooling not working (not plugged back in after a rebuild...) and it even did general programming and so on until the heat became a problem... 20 minutes later... Your chip runs colder so it should be ok.

Without a hsf, that 8400 should be good for hundreds of cycles. How many cycles does it do in a second?
You may get lucky and have it cut out before it burns, but you wont have enough time to tell anything.
Dont even think about it.

endyen, actually you can boot a pc for a short while without a heat sink. Long enough to see if it can boot with the CPU. Don't it plenty of times.

Boot it with the old HSF on but without reapplying the thermal paste (but without cleaning the old stuff off), that'll give you a slightly longer window to work with before the temps soar.

Agree. Do not run without the HSF. You may be able to complete the POST, but booting to Windows takes awhile, and modern CPU's heat up very quickly.

To illustrate this, put your finger on top of a bare, installed CPU and turn on the computer. I will bet that you cannot keep your finger on the CPU until it finishes booting.

Whatever you do don't boot without a heatsync and some (new or old) thermal paste. I tried to boot without a heatsync before and burned up one of my old processors before the box even posted. Core2s are supposed to have more safeguards to prevent this, but its better to be safe and spend the extra 5 minutes putting the heatsync on.

What mi1ez said, just use the HSF but don't bother with the thermal paste for testing it.

jsc, All he'd need to see if the board is willing to work with the CPU is for the post screen to even show up. If the motherboard can't handle the chip it won't even start up.

If it can handle the chip but hasn't got data on it it'll require some manual configuration but it will still boot.

But I agree with mi1ez though.

holy crap!! you guys are fast!! thanks everyone for your replies. its pretty clear that it is not a good idea. ill take the extra 5 minutes and just hook the heatsink up without cleaning it off. i figure i need probably 5 good minutes to see if it, A: boots and B: if i need to configure anything in bios. do you guys think i should be safe (ill tape my cpu sensor to it as well so i have a little monitoring on my led display on case) also can i get someones opinion on if i should use the p5w and hope the bios update supports it or just use the one that i know for sure supports it?? thanks again for all your help. TOMS HARDWARE ROCKS!!

No harm in trying it in the P5W although I shouldn't hold your hopes too high.

Good luck!

I reckon you will find that the CPU boots no problem but at a reduced FSB. The bios will default to its stock 1066???? FSB (i haven't bothered to look up your board) the CPU multiplier will stay locked at X???

As stated in order to reach the stock CPU speed you would have to OC your motherboard FSB. I reckon you can take it to 1250 easy enough (assuming you have a well ventilated case) but 1333 is probably a stretch (I am not familiar with the specific product).

You may find that it runs acceptably at the lower than stock speed, but getting a suitable mobo is recommended

Agreed with the majority - Don't even boot without a HSF installed.

If you want to test to be sure, then install your standoffs but don't screw the mobo down. Then removal/replacement of the CPU and HSF is made significantly easier in the case something needs worked on. If all is well, then go ahead and screw that sucker down.

I have the same motherboard and as you found out the E8400 is supported. Check out this site, it's dedicated to the motherboard:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=110193

To run your E8400 at stock speed you'll need to run the FSB at 333. This overclocks the P5W's FSB, but you should have no problem running it this way. I run mine with a Q6600 at 333, which seems to be the limit for quads on the P5W. On dual cores this motherboard should run up to the high 300's and if your lucky to the low 400's.

As I understand it, you don't want to overclock the CPU, but to run your E8400 at stock, you'll have to overclock the FSB on your P5W to get it there.

Pay particular attention to what some users have experienced regarding Vcore on the Wolfdales. It seems you need to run Vcore on Auto because the manual settings don't go as low as the Wolfdales are rated for at stock.

hey thanks again guys. you all have been a huge help. i just got the cpu like a minute ago from ups. the other mobo doesnt come till tomorrow so im gonna go ahead and pop it in the p5w. ill let you know how it goes. hey techgeek...something that has bothered me since this whole ordeal started was that i have (had) my 2.13 6400 oc'd at 2.80 with a 400 fsb. i lowered the multiplier to 7 to do it. it made me really wonder if the asus tech had a clue when he told me the p5w wouldnt support the wolfdale. im guessing like you said, ill have to oc it, but im bettin (more like prayin) it can get to the 400 mark pretty easily. like i said, ill give it a try and let ya know. thanks again!!

oh yeah, thanks again techgeek for the heads up on the vcore!!

Even better, breadboard the system. Assemble everything outside the case on an insulated cutting board. I use a nylon cutting board.

I always breadboard. I also install the OS and torture test before I install the components inside the case. The big advantage is that I know the parts work before I install them in the case.

Having a 4 port KVM switch simplifies that. I reserve one port for system testing.