tualatin upgrade w/ adapter

[wyldwezl]

Based on the article I read here about the fast processors on old boards, two of us gave it a try. We're both using old Asus P2B-S boards (mine is an LS with NIC) and doing music editing on them coupled with fast SCSI drives.

Installed mine last night-- flashed the BIOS before putting in the processor and changed nothing else. Even booted at 112 mHz FSB-- 1.568 gHz from a former 667 mHz. Am pleased so far with the results. Only hitch is I can't do much of a video upgrade, as the board won't run 4X AGP, so I'm basically stuck with my Geforce Annihilator Pro (DDR). DOn't really game much on that drive-- I have an ME drive where the games live, but didn't have time to play yet. Will give it the acid test this weekend.

So far, both of us are pleased with the results. Also put in an Audigy2 card and have issues with 98SE, but that's another post elsewhere.

 

[ritesh_laud]

So far, both of us are pleased with the results.

I was pleased with my Powerleap Tualatin adapter for five days, then it died on me. Fortunately I was able to get my money back. Then I got an Upgradeware adapter and was pleased with it for three or four months, then it died on me. My board is an Abit BX133. These adapters are crap as far as I'm concerned.

Ritesh

 

[Crashman]

Stuck with the Anihilator Pro? Why? You could put any video card you wanted on there! I would suggest an ATI Radeon 9500 Pro as a good solution.

What, you didn't know that this card is supported by your board? Shame. I'm running a Radeon DDR on my BX board, with a Slot-T adapter and Celeron 1.1@1466MHz/133MHz bus/1.60v.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[wyldwezl]

News to me that a 4X video card like anything built in the last 3 years will work on that old Asus board. The board only supports 2X, and *as far as I know,* won't work with the newer video cards due to voltage issues. You apparently know otherwise. I could take the GF Annihilator 2 out of my other box and try it. I'd just hate to drop $180--200 on a video card that I'm unsure will work in my gear.

Shoot-- my kid burned the thing in all weekend and despite the old GeForce card the thing just rocks along. He was playing NeverWinter NIghts on it. I gave it the acid test (pun) when I got in there on AVP Gold with cheats on and smoked a whole roomful of bugs with the flamethrower. No slow framerates there!

Anyhow, I wasn't aware that board will work with the latest and greatest. And, oddly, the 9500 Pro IS my pick for video card, unless the GeForce 4s just bottom out. Would be cool to find out it will work in there (even at 2X!).

Could you point me to some information about AGP 2.0 cards and support on my P2B-LS m'board?

 

[Crashman]

Of course it will work, I use BX boards exclusively on my system! All cards from ATI and nVidia are backwards compatable to AGP2x. In fact, not only have I tested various cards on my system, but I've found through testing of other boards that the performance difference between AGP2x and AGP4x is not extremely large, it's fairly small considering the potential.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

 

[ritesh_laud]

All cards from ATI and nVidia are backwards compatable to AGP2x.

While this is true, the AGP slot on motherboards from the 440BX days is not compliant with the AGP 2.0 standard and may not be able to adequately power the latest and greatest video cards. One of the "upgrades" of AGP 2.0 over 1.0 was beefier power delivery specifications, and the 440BX only supports AGP 1.0. Many manufacturers who made 440BX mobos designed their AGP slot to handle AGP 2.0 power requirements, but many didn't! So it's taking a chance running a modern 3D card on a 440BX mobo. Certainly with the GFFX or Radeon 9700 Pro I would be very hesitant.

Ritesh

 

[AshamanHGK]

I'm curious to see how things work out for you with your boards, since I am considering something of that nature with my HP Visualize P-Class, running dual processors. Currently I only have a single PIII 733 running in it.

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

If it's any constilation ive ran the following on a i440BX Board...

-ATI AIW Rage 128 16MB AGP 2x: NOT 1.5V AGP 2.0 compliant
-nVidia TNT2 Ultra 32MB: 1.5V Card
-nVidia GeForce 2 MX400: 1.5V Compliant AND AGP 2.0 Compliant
-nVidia GeForce 4 MX440: 1.5V Compliant AND AGP 2.0 Compliant

so tell me whats the problem ????????

Ive ran these on a 440BX board so im gonan have to say Crashman is right.....
the ONLY issue you WOULD have however is trying to run a NON AGP 1.5V Compliant Video card in a motherboard that ONLY supports 1.5V Cards....like ALL AGP 8X Motherboards...u will NOT be able to run lets say my 16MB ATI AIW Card in there......going the opposite route however will work fine....

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

 

[Unolocogringo]

I have a G3 TI 200 64mb on a P2B and a G2 pro 64mb on a P2B-F and they run great.

I aint signing nothing!!!

 

[Crashman]

I believe the highest load ever put on an AGP slot from a gaming card with with the GeForce DDR card. Subsequent cards draw less power due to miniaturization of the parts, except for the 9700 Pro and upcomming 5800FX, which should still work because they use external power via power cables.

Having said that, the GeForce DDR card was somewhere around 50 watts IIRC and worked fine with the BX, in fact BX platforms were considered the best choice at the time.

Now there might be some cheaply made boards out there that couldn't hold up, but HP's BX boards were Asus P2B series (good quality), while Gateway and Dell used Intel boards (also good quality).

Your system isn't even a BX, since it's running 133Mhz FSB, it's probably an i810 (in which case you don't even HAVE an AGP slot) or i815 board.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Consider the enormous power consumed by the GeForce 256 series, including the GeForce DDR, which I believe was around 50 watts. The newest power hog card, the 9700 Pro, is 54 watts, but has an additional power input! The FX will too. So the question is, what was the best chipset available at the time of the GeForce DDR? Answer: the BX.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Oh, BTW, I think most of those systems like yours were running an i820 or i840 chipset board, which would mean your slot is AGP4x and AGP 2.0 compliant. Sorry about the i810 and i815 references, forgot you had duals!

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

 

[wyldwezl]

Since the curiosity is going to gnaw at me until I try it, I'll pull the GeForce 2 Annihilator out of my other gaming box and give it a try-- I've nothing to lose, and probably a lot to learn. If it works well and is stable, then I'll look for another upgrade, probably a GF 4 4200-128 or perhaps a Radeon 9500 Pro (depends on the $$ situation). If it won't work in the P2B-LS, then I'll put it in the gaming box where it will work. I suspect it will. Odd thing about this board (in my experience): it has handled everything I've thrown at it, hardware-wise, without a glitch. For that alone it was worth the $85 I paid for it!! If I could find another one, I'd make it a home server.

This is primarily supposed to be a sound editing and mastering workstation, not necessarily a gaming platform, though with 3 separate hard drive (and o/s's) I like flexibility. And it helps for small LAN parties at my house.

Will keep you posted of my progress!

 

[Crashman]

I actually sell refurbished high end BX boards through eBay. They fetch pretty good money still. I would NOT suggest the P2B-LS however, as I could never get one to support 133MHz bus speeds. I have done it with the P2B, but not the P2B-LS. Now, you might also consider the P2B v1.10, which has the extra jumper for bus speeds up to 150MHz, or the P2B-F, a later version of the P2B, or the P2B-B, which supports bus speeds to 150MHz and fits old AT style cases.

Any of those should take whatever you can throw at them.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

 

[wyldwezl]

Swapped out the video card and, by golly, it works! I'm quite content with the LS board as is, don't need the 133 mHz FSB. I'm just glad to get considerably better framerates as is.

I'll probably wait a short while and watch the video card market prices and pounce when the time is right.

Thanks for the help!

 

[AshamanHGK]

Then I got an Upgradeware adapter and was pleased with it for three or four months, then it died on me. My board is an Abit BX133. These adapters are crap as far as I'm concerned.

When your adapters burned out was there any discernable damage to other components?

 

[jclw]

Abit boards don't seem to like the slockets as much as the Asus boards for some reason. A few people over at overclockers.com have problems with the BX133s, and also the BH6s (blowing VRM mosfets).

I run an ATI 7200 and a 8500LE in my BX boards.

*Dual PIII-800 @900 i440BX and Tualeron 1.2 @1.74 i815*