Slot-A-Boards 200Mhz FSB + G400 ???

[Surfwienix]

which mainboards do support the 200Mhz-FSB? does this run stable with the Athlon?
...and with the G400?
which RAM is needed?
is the performance much better than @133Mhz?

thank you

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>> Surfwienix <<
(German)

My System:

AMD K6-2/400@450
Epox MVP3C-M Super7 (VIA 4.20 + AGP v4.02)
128MB SDRAM(PC100)
Matrox Millennium G400 MAX
(PD 5.52 + TGL 1.3 + DX 7a) AGP2x/256MB @IRQ11(not sharing) non-o/c
Terratec DMX Sound-System
6,4GB Maxtor HDD (UDMA33)
ASUS 50x-CDROM (UDMA33)
Realtek 8019 Ethernet (ISA)
19" Monitor CTX-VL950T (95khz)
Windows 98SE

[dsp]

Surfwienix,

the 200MHz FSB is a DDR(double date rate) 100MHz bus, in reality your memory is only running @ 100MHz but if you use a KX-133 based board you have the option of running the memory @ 100MHz + 33(or 4/3 or 100 + PCI bus) thus improving your memory bandwith. Only Athlon motherboards support the 200MHz FSB. So you just need PC-100 RAM or higher for it to work, but some say those boards are finicky with RAM (I don't know personally). Hope this answers your questions.

dsp

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AMD K6-2 350@400MHz
128MB Generic PC-133 RAM
13.6GB Maxtor 7200RPM Hard Drive
Toshiba SD-M1212 6X DVD ROM
ACER 2X/2X/6X CD-RW
SB Live Value w/digital out
Matrox G400 32MB Dualhead Vanilla @ 157/210/157
15" Daytek 1531D
PD 5.52
Win 98SE
10Base-T Ethernet card (Realtek 8029)
10/100 Ethernet card (D-Link)
DSL (Yahoo!!!!)

[Nuno]

Easy!
1st: all Athlon motherboards (AMD 750, KX133) use 200 Mhz fsb, it´s inherent to the EV6 bus the cpu uses.
Now, this isn´t exactly a 200 Mhz fsb. It´s a 100 Mhz DDR (double data rate), but becauses it transfers data in both rising and falling edges of the cycle, its badwidth equals a traditional 200 Mhz bus.

DDR is used only in the fsb. The memory bus is the stardard 100 Mhz (or 133 in KX133 boards). So the chipset-cpu transfers are definitly faster than in a 133 Mhz fsb, but memory bandwidth is rougly the same as Intel counterparts.

As the memory bus is still 100/133 Mhz plain standard pc100/133 SDRAM does (preferably high quality ram, because centain athlon mobo´s are quite pickier about the ram)

My 235 W PS/Gigabyte GA-7IX/128 Mb generic pc100 oc´ed to CAS2 /Athlon 600/ G400 oc´ed to 150/200 surely is a fast & stable combo. But I wouldn´t recomend you folks to try it at home

Two things:
Athlons run HOT. I mean very hot. Even at default speeds. Be sure to have proper cooling - I bought myself a new case fan today, the cpu was running 50+ ºC now that the days are warmer. 41-42 now is more like it.

Before buying a motherboard wait a few days to see if the KX133 chipset/Thunderbird issue is clarified. Rumors (or even a official AMD statement, can´t remember now...) say that KX133/thunderbird are uncompatable. Motherboard manufacturers are releasing bios updates that suposedly support thunderbirs. Go figure.

PS: Gee, didn´t figured out the post above.


[This message has been edited by Nuno (edited 16 May 2000).]

[Wombat]

Is heat still that much of an issue? I know my CPU is over 50W, but the .18u dropped that a lot, didn't it?


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MSI-6167 w/ Athlon 500@750 (thx Greebe!), 128MB Crucial PC133, G400MAX,SBLive!-MP3,Pioneer 10x DVD, Phillips CD-R, a hard drive or two, and a Sony 420GS. Running RH6.1, and Win98 (when I have to).

[Nuno]

My 600 is still a .25u
Coming from a celery 300 oc´ed to 450 (those were the times ), an Athlon surely pumps out a lot of heat.

[Damien Green]

It sure does - I've resorted to using the Global Win VO32+ in order to get my Athlon 800 to run at 32 degrees centigrade - but hey what a fantastic processor!

[This message has been edited by Damien Green (edited 21 May 2000).]

[markpm]

Wow, Nuno, your system stable you say??!!

I have nearly the same setup as you...
250w Enlight PSU
GA-71X F1 mobo
Athlon 550 .18 micron
128Mb PC133 Crucial memory
G400 (Standard) 32Mb
With NOTHING overclocked

My system was a pig to get stable for 3d gaming. Im now starting to get problems again. ARGGHHHH! Cant play SOF without COMPLETE lockup after about 30seconds!!!
Had lots of trouble getting HL and Opp Force and Q3 to work too!!

What did you do to get a stable system???

Mark...

[Nuno]

What did you do to get a stable system???

erm... got lucky? Now really, I know I did. I still wonder how this stuff all work together stable.

Power *shouldn´t* be an issue in your case, as .18 K7 draw less power than the older ones. But I would try another PS.

Try updating the bios in your mobo. I have F3a. It may have improved memory support (It was a pain to find a dimm that worked fine with the 7IX)

Another thin to check is if the G400 is properly seated in the slot.

[Fierysonic]

Athlons do not run very hot. At least my .18 700 @ 800 doesn't.

Fiery

[Greebe]

Fiery, try taking an Athlon 500 (250nm) and running it at 850-900mHz. Then you'll know know what we're talking about. They run VERY hot!

------------------
Designer of the first commercial Athlon mod.
Anyone up for an Athlon800+? Email me (epc@netdirect.net) for more information

3000 mips, 1.172 gflops @ 900 mHz 1:3 latency w/ active cooling
CPUmark99 75
FPU Winmark 4890

3Dmark 99 Max (8x6 16, 16, triple) PD5.41, Athlon@850mHz
8000
15181

[markpm]

Thanks Nuno,

I suppose I could try another PSU. I had actually heard that some mobo's have trouble supplying a STEADY 3.3v to the AGP slot. Maybe thats the problem.

On the subject of upgrading Bios, isnt the F3A bios for the GA-71X-E boards not the GA-71X, or doesnt it matter really.
Just Ive heard of some people using the wrong upgrade and screwing their board totally!

Cheers,
Mark...

[Nuno]

hmmm, nope my bios if for 7IX (not E). It reports 7IX on boot. Now that you mentioned it, this is a beta bios. I forgot from where I downloaded it (not sure if it was from gigabyte ) I followed a link posted by www.amdzone.com. It works fine, fixed the hilarious F2 bug (that DISABLED L2 cache) and ACPI also is up to par.
I also have bios F4a for the 7IX (but still haven´t flashed it - no real need to).
I read several posts in amdzone fori about flashing 7IX mobo´s with 7IX-E bioses and working fine, but I didn´t try it.

If you want F3a or F4a bios I can e-mail them to you, but use them at your own risk...

[markpm]

Thanks,

I'll see if I can find it.
I think I've also seen it on the Gigabyte site.

Thanks for the help Nuno...

Mark...