AMD Motherboards: Processor Support
by Wesley Fink on June 28, 2005 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Updating DC BIOS & Revision E Memory
Updating BIOS for Dual Core with an x2 ProcessorThis brings up the nagging question that is always asked when BIOS upgrades are required for certain CPUs. What do you do if you have a board that needs a BIOS upgrade for dual-core and you only have a dual-core chip? We asked AMD this question and got the following reply:
"If the BIOS you are working with (original BIOS in the board) supports a rev E single core (AKA... 90nm as most new boards should), it will allow you to flash the BIOS to a BIOS that supports rev E dual core. In my experience, a DC processor with single core rev E support will run fine, but only as a single core. If the BIOS doesn't support rev E (In other words, you may have a good board, but the BIOS is pretty old), you will likely need to install a pre-rev E (AKA-130nm) AMD processor to flash the BIOS.
I'm told that if a customer can't flash their BIOS, many mobo vendors will mail out the BIOS chip to them (if it's not soldered down, obviously)"
Revision E Memory Controller PLUS 4 Dimms =
The memory timings, in the end, are controlled by the memory controller, and in the case of Athlon 64 that memory controller is on the processor. We had already been told by AMD that Rev. E would feature a new and improved memory controller. In fact for months prior to the release of the new Revision E Athlon 64 processors (Venice, San Diego, Toledo) we have been hearing that the new memory controller on the Rev. E chips would allow the use of 4 dimms at the faster 1T Command Rate.
With the 4200+ x2 in our DFI LANParty nForce4 SLI test bed with a working dual-core BIOS (6/23/05) we tried 4 matched PC3200 OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 dimms. Four double-sided (or double- bank) dimms STILL require a 2T command rate in this configuration, so the limitation stills remains. Four DS Dimms in a Rev. E still need a Command Rate of 2.
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arswihart - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link
actually here's a link to a foreign thread that has links to the new BIOS's:http://www.msi-forum.de/thread.php?threadid=17206&...
Did this completely escape you Anandtech?
Also, I've read the F6 Bios for the Gigabyte K8NS Ultra and the F9 Bios for the K8NSNXP give X2 support. Haven't read any results from them though.
Noubourne - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link
Wasn't part of the issue with 4 DIMMS that not only would you be stuck with 2T, but also with DDR333 with all four slots populated?Wasn't part of it also that 2x1GB wouldn't do 1T either? I am fairly certain SD and Venice are both capable of doing 1T with 2x1GB. That is important to mention for people looking at 2GB of RAM, but not necessarily OC.
larson0699 - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link
"We also had done some testing with the early Winchester and Newcastle chips which were based on the 90nm production process instead of the 130nm process used for clawhammer."Newcastle IS a 130nm part.
"If the BIOS doesn't support rev E (In other words, you may have a good board, but the BIOS is pretty old), you will likely need to install a pre-rev E (AKA-130nm) AMD processor to flash the BIOS."
Misleading. Winchester is also pre-Rev.E and is only 90nm.
And that was from one of their own guys.
#2, don't you fret. The mass of nForce3 owners raises too high a demand for the makers _not_ to do something about it. nForce3 isn't at EOL simply because of PCI-e; what matters is that it's socket 939 (still as much a current platform as nForce4's 939) and they have customers that they don't want to lose.
Viditor - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link
The Final Words link in the dropdown menu is broken...it takes you to a search page.arswihart - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link
A couple nf3 boards have already made BIOS's available (MSI and Gigabyte), while DFI has promised support on its upcoming nf3 board. Epox support looks likely as well in the near future, as per Epox Tech.This is all based on what I've read, I never tried tracking down any of the actual BIOS files because I don't own an MSI or Gigabyte board. But I've heard they're out there.
matthewfoley - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link
BOOOO! No 939 nForce3 x2 compatibility!?!? MSI get off your asses and release a bios. That is rediculous.larry89 - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link
^.^ nice