Is it ok to underclock my CPU? good reason!

[apatec]

Hi, I have a Micron system that has a 200Mhz FSB. The FSB can not be adjusted on sysbrd (GA-7DX rev 2.2: jp51, j1, and SW1 does not exist) nor in the BIOS (F1ia).

It is currently using a Athlon 1ghz 200FSB cpu. I have a Athlon XP 2600 2.13Ghz 266Mhz FSB processor and curious what would happen if I swapped the processors. Wouldnt the new processor underclock to 200MHz?

Thanks!

[Cache]

The processor would have no choice but to underclock. The question is, does the board even support that processor. If not there be may a BIOS update available.

[apatec]

Well, there is a bios update on Gigabyte's website:

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/...A-7DX_More.htm

It identifies BIOS version "F8" to support AthlonXP 2600 only if the Rev of the mobo is 3.0 or higher. Do I try the BIOS update anyway if my rev is 2.2?

If no problems with F8 BIOS update then proceed with cpu swap?
If the F8 BIOS update is a problem, should the original Micron BIOS flash fine?
http://support.mpccorp.com/apps/filelist.asp?ID=3205

Cheers!

[Cache]

Ideally you could do with an answer from someone with experience of this exact problem. I suggest hunting down a Gigabyte specific forum and ask if anyone has been though this procedure (updating Rev 2.2 with Rev 3.0 BIOS), and if so, what came of it.

Of course you could just go ahead with if you don't mind buying a new motherboard if the BIOS procedure goes pear shaped. If the board is still bootable after the update then you should be able to flash it back with the original BOIS.

If the board is NOT bootable after the update then you have a big problem. You would have to buy a new BIOS chip to replace the dead one, which may be alot harder than it sounds (finding the chip). Another opion might be to buy the exact same board, boot it up and try a "hot swap" of the BIOS chip then flash it. The latter would one scary procedure though, and I have never done it myself so I couldn't give you any details. Other than that you would have to just buy a new board and scrap the dead one.

Please note: I am NOT recommending you try this without knowing what will happen.

Cache.

[apatec]

Hmmmm.....what to do...what to do.

Hey, I like your parting note though...so, frankly, no crystal ball here.

The system has been running GREAT for the last 4years, no problems. This past year I wanted to do some DVD authoring, so I first updated to WinXP, then did alot of DVD authoring. It takes 11hours to render a video before I can burn it to the DVD.... hence, reason for processor update.

I probably will update to BIOS "F2C" described on Micron website, but I think that is as far as I want to go with BIOS versions. Yes, too scared to try F8, but I'll swap the processors and see what happens.

I;ll keep trying to find out if anyone has similar Micron system and has tried it though...will check out Gigabytes forum.

Thanks!

p.s. Athlon X2 4400 looooooks mighty nice!

[apatec]

Thanks again for your post. I'll keep that in mind.

In the mean time, here is what I found out regarding this very SPECIAL GA-7DX REV 2.2 board. After investigating many forums, there was/are alot of unhappy people out there when they couldnt set the FSB speed at JP51 jumper for 266Mhz.

Some suggested to carefully solder the JP51 location (which I may try after possibly getting another system first).

But one person said to press Ctrl+C at POST instead of pressing DEL to access the BIOS. Well, I tried it and guess what?! It looks very similar to the standard BIOS menu but it also shows another choice:

Frequency / Voltage Control

when chosen, then next screen looks like this:

ClkGen Spred Spectrum Enabled
CPU Host PCI Clock Default

Im not sure what "ClkGen..." is all about, more research, but the "CPU..." has the followiing settings: 100/33, 102/34, 104/35, ... 133/33, ..., to 149/38.

I imagine if the JP51 was closed/jumpered, it would be able to allow the above settings to be chosen. If not closed/jumpered, choosing these choices probably would not make any difference except for 100/33; the default.

So, Im going to update to F2C, Micron's latest BIOS, then pop in the new processor and see what happens. (Flashing the Gigabyte BIOS F8 is still very iffy...staying away from that for a while, I would solder first before doing the update).

[apatec]

Updated to Micron F2C bios...no problems.

I believe Gigabytes F6, F7, F8 BIOS are cosmetic anyway. It changes "Unknown CPU Type" at boot to the exact model of the cpu such as of Athlon XP 2000+ and higher models. Im going to pass on these bios updates.

I did swap the processors and system ran at 1600Mhz. I changed the FSB in BIOS (Control+C at POST) to 133/33 and system hung at POST.

Eventually I had to clear cmos or remove the battery for a bit..got it back to default.

Anyway, I did solder JP51 together (without pins) and got the system to POST at 2133Mhz.

CPU-Z shows 2133Mhz with FSB/Bus speeds at 133/266 respectively.