Upgrade help.

[sgar72]

I am thinking of upgrading my existing CPU (Athlon 800) to a Athlon 1.4 but i am aware that the motherboard (Boistar m7vkb) supports it but only the 200mhz FSB ones and i have been unable to find it as its a pretty old CPU. I was wondering if anyone knows if the MB would take the 266 CPU, even though it would not use all of the speed.Many thanks

 

[chuck232]

Pretty much useless. Since the 1.4GHz Athlon is 133FSB then it would have a 10.5 multiplier, making it run at 1050MHZ on your mobo. Actually, I found a 1.4GHz T-bird 200MHz FSB at newegg.com for $97. It's OEM, so you'd have to buy a HSF for it. Probably a pretty good one, since t-birds especially the higher clocked ones run pretty hot.

Falling down stairs saves time

 

[Force]

Yes, you can run a 266 fsb chip @ 200 no problem. the 266 just wont run at 266. However, you may need to get a bios update to support the 1.4.
If you have the $$ I would recommend upgrading your mb also, while you will see a performance jump from 800 to 1.4, you would see an even larger jump going to a 266/333 board and DDR.

Insert something witty here! ___________ <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by force on 07/05/02 05:58 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[sgar72]

Thanks a lot for the info Force.
Do you mean that whether i buy a 1.4 200 or 266 it want make any difference whatsoever on my motherboard as its only supports 200 FSB? I hope i understood you right. Here in Europe a 200 is almost impossible to find, and if you do, they'll make you pay for it, so the ideal for me would be getting a 266 one as they are pretty cheap. By the way, no i don't have the cash to upgrade the MB as well. Thanks again for your help.

 

[deadkenny]

If the issue is lack of "266" FSB support, another option might be a new Duron (1.3GHz). You'll have to verify that it's supported on that board though (voltage etc.).

 

[sgar72]

my mb doesn't support that unfortunately.

 

[Force]

Yes, if you put a 266 part on a 200 board, it will still work just fine on the 200 board. But, as I said you may need to upgrade the bios for the board to even use a 1.4g cpu. I have an A7M266 which I recently put an Duron 1g cpu on, but the board didn't work with it until I flashed the bios.

Insert something witty here! ___________

 

[sgar72]

Thanks a lot Force. I have recentley upgraded my BIOS to the latest one, so its should be fine. So if this is the case than i'll go and get myself a new CPU very soon. Thanks again.

 

[bw37]

sgar,

Do you understand that an unmodified 266 1.4Ghz CPU will only run at 1.05Ghz at 200 mhz fsb? You would do almost as well to get a 200 fsb 1G Athlon. This assumes you are just going to plug it in and run at stock settings. A true 200 mhz fsb Athlon (1.1, 1.2 or 1.3Ghz) will actually run faster so you should consider one of those before getting a 266/1.4G.

The only way to get a 266/1.4G to run at 200/1.4G would be to unlock it and then set the multiplier manually in the bios (to 14). Your board may or may not allow you to do this. I don't think Biostars are too flexible this regard, but I may be wrong. You might check out your options in the bios. How high can the multiplier be set manually?

BW

 

[Quetzacoatl]

If you really want to save your old motherboard, www.Newegg.com sells the old Athlon Thunderbirds at 1.4Ghz on the 200Mhz FSB. About $80 I think

"When there's a will, there's a way."