AMD Motherboards: Processor Support
by Wesley Fink on June 28, 2005 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Final Words
The latest AMD Athlon 64 processors bring with them performance improvements, and a new round of potential compatibility issues. Venice, San Diego, and Toledo (x2) all have the 90nm manufacturing advantage and the addition of SSE3 instructions. While they will all potentially work on any Socket 939 board, all three new processors require a BIOS update, which may or may not be available for your favorite board.In general, motherboards based on the nForce4, VIA K8T890, Uli1689, SiS 756, and ATI Crossfire AMD will likely already have a BIOS released that will work with x2 processors or one will be coming shortly. Those with motherboards based on the earlier nForce3 chipset may not be so lucky - as BIOS' that support x2 on nForce3 are just starting to appear. We are told nF3 support for x2 is coming, but it is definitely coming more slowly. This means most Socket 939 boards with AGP video may not be supported right now with an x2 BIOS upgrade. We say most, because the new ULi 1689 chipset does support both AGP and x2, and some of the older but popular VIA AGP boards have x2 BIOS updates available.
AMD has also added additional "hidden" features in the AMD on-processor memory controller. Additional asynchronous ratios are available at 433, 466, and 500 memory speed on boards that implement the necessary code to access these memory controller features. These options should be available with any Revision E chip if the manufacturer implements the controller option read in BIOS. We saw the additional options "magically" appear on an Abit AN8 Fatality motherboard when a 4200+ x2 processor was used.
Unfortunately the long-rumored 1T Command Rate with Rev. E AMD processors appears to have been just a rumor. We could not run 4 matched dimms at 1T in a motherboard with Rev. E/x2 support. Four dimms still required a 2T Command Rate.
You should consider our list of Official and Unofficial Dual-core support to be a unified Revision E list. AMD tells us that Revision E support is part of the requirement for x2, so you can assume any x2 capable board will also properly support Venice and San Diego.
Fortunately for those shopping for a new Socket 939 motherboard there are many new boards that support Revision E and x2 processors. We hope the information in the article will make your search for a new motherboard for an Athlon 64 an easier process. If we overlooked boards and/or BIOS revisions that belong in our Supported list please let us know.
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Anton74 - Thursday, June 30, 2005 - link
Actually the ECS KN1 also seems to have nForce4 Ultra, not nForce4 as listed?http://www.ecsusa.com/products/kn1_spec.html
Anton74 - Thursday, June 30, 2005 - link
#40 / Wesley,I've noticed that out of all the nForce4 equipped boards on the list of supporting motherboards, there's only 1 with the nForce4 Ultra chipset, the Asus A8N-E (which by the way does also support rev. E4 according to the linked AMD page). The vast majority is either nForce4 of nForce4 SLI. Coincidence?
The ones that do support E3/E4/E6 are all some flavor of nForce4.
I was looking at an nForce4 Ultra board, with a dual core either now or in the future, so I'm very much looking forward to that roundup before making a decision. Looks like I may have to consider other nForce4 flavors as well. I'm also hoping to figure out if I can at least make the thing run long enough to do a BIOS update if needed, otherwise I might be in trouble, with no other Athlon 64's at hand. It's hard to tell what BIOS version one can expect when buying from an online retailer.
Why is it by the way that others, such as the EPoX 9NPA* Ultra which I was considering, do claim revision E support with a BIOS update on their web site, but didn't make it onto AMD's list? Do they not fully support the new CPU's as claimed?
Great article by the way.
BPB - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
From what I see on MSI's site the RS480M2-IL is in testing for X2 support, they do not say it is supported. Should I chance it?Markfw900 - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
I have bios 1.95 on my neo2 with a 4400+ working perfectly. Its a beta, and not on the MSI site. Duvie found it for me.T2k - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
On NF3 concerns: my NF3 Pro-based Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 is fine with X2 after you flashed the latest BIOS, confirmed by Gigabyte.nserra - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
I think its a little risky using the 1T rate with 4 banks, even if works "fine", AMD (or the mobo maker) cant afford to lose some stability even if slightly.bupkus - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
Link to next article, "A Look at Solaris 10 and Sun's Dual Core Fire V40z", is brokern.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
Zebo - Actually I'm finishing an nF4 Ultra roundup that should post in the next few days. The Abit Fatal1ty AN8 is one of the boards in the roundup.arswihart - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
Zebo - Think again. On AOAforums, the user LBJGH recently had a discussion with the Epox support staff, who said, concerning the new BIOS with X2 support for the 9nda3+, "we should have it ready by next week."Read this quote and the whole thread here:
http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31...
Zebo - Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - link
Thanks a lot wes, great fact finding mission..It looks like I'll finally have to upgrade to PCIe since my epox 9NDA does'nt support dual core. Do you know if ASUS has fixed thier 1T cmd issue at high HTT?? Also would you guys review ABIT AN8 Ultra as it seems to be the only passive chipset design and at xtreme guys seem to be hitting 300+ HTT even so. Only thing I don't like is mem proximity in dual channel which makes cooling difficult..