The AN8 is, of course, also a Socket 939 based motherboard. Does anyone
know the full extent of the AN8's upgrade capabilities?

On 30 Jun 2005 17:05:59 -0700, "aether" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>The AN8 is, of course, also a Socket 939 based motherboard. Does anyone
>know the full extent of the AN8's upgrade capabilities?

From the very first line of Abit's specification page on their
website:

"Supports AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64/64FX & Athlon 64 X2 dual-core
Processors"

http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/mothe...939&DEFTITLE=Y


-------------
Tony Hill
hilla <underscore> 20 <at> yahoo <dot> ca

"Tony Hill" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 30 Jun 2005 17:05:59 -0700, "aether" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>>The AN8 is, of course, also a Socket 939 based motherboard. Does anyone
>>know the full extent of the AN8's upgrade capabilities?
>
> From the very first line of Abit's specification page on their
> website:
>
> "Supports AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64/64FX & Athlon 64 X2 dual-core
> Processors"
>
> http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/mothe...939&DEFTITLE=Y
>
>
> -------------
> Tony Hill
> hilla <underscore> 20 <at> yahoo <dot> ca

Me, I have this nazi fanboy killfiled. I wouldn't reply to him if he was
along side the road on fire.

del

Tony Hill wrote:
> On 30 Jun 2005 17:05:59 -0700, "aether" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
> >The AN8 is, of course, also a Socket 939 based motherboard. Does anyone
> >know the full extent of the AN8's upgrade capabilities?
>
> From the very first line of Abit's specification page on their
> website:
>
> "Supports AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64/64FX & Athlon 64 X2 dual-core
> Processors"
>
> http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/mothe...939&DEFTITLE=Y
>
>
> -------------
> Tony Hill
> hilla <underscore> 20 <at> yahoo <dot> ca

Appreciate it, Tony. I'm fairly certain that a month ago the
specifications page didn't mention X2 dual-core. I didn't bother to
check it again, instead choosing to get an answer from 'live' people.

Cecchi - You're mindless garbage.

On 30 Jun 2005 17:05:59 -0700, "aether" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>The AN8 is, of course, also a Socket 939 based motherboard. Does anyone
>know the full extent of the AN8's upgrade capabilities?
>

AN8 BIOS Version 1.5 supports dual-core (released 20-June-2005)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With regard to the general issue of Socket-939 BIOS updates for X2,
please note the following:-

No mention of X2 in the BIOS update docs, then beware. Especially
if you are contemplating a new purchase. Also, even if the BIOS is
updated, remember it takes quite a while for the retail channel to be
purged !!! Check with the supplier as to the BIOS version shipped
in the board, if they know....( and their return-policy !!! )

An X2 might just not work at all in a board which has not had its
BIOS updated ( the BIOS docs are silent on this subject ).
And if the board does not work at all, obviously you will not be
able to read the BIOS version, to find out whether the BIOS
might be the problem, or something else in a new installation is
screwed up. Hence, a perfect Catch 22 - you may need to install
a non-X2 just to check motherboard functionality and update the
BIOS :-(. No problem for a small system-builder. A big problem
for the do-it-yourself guy building a first-time Socket-939 X2 system.

And of course, if you are upgrading an existing Socket-939
board to X2, remember to update the BIOS to add X2-compatibility
BEFORE removing the old processor..................

John Lewis

- Technology early-birds are flying guinea-pigs.

John Lewis wrote:
> On 30 Jun 2005 17:05:59 -0700, "aether" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
> >The AN8 is, of course, also a Socket 939 based motherboard. Does anyone
> >know the full extent of the AN8's upgrade capabilities?
> >
>
> AN8 BIOS Version 1.5 supports dual-core (released 20-June-2005)
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> With regard to the general issue of Socket-939 BIOS updates for X2,
> please note the following:-
>
> No mention of X2 in the BIOS update docs, then beware. Especially
> if you are contemplating a new purchase. Also, even if the BIOS is
> updated, remember it takes quite a while for the retail channel to be
> purged !!! Check with the supplier as to the BIOS version shipped
> in the board, if they know....( and their return-policy !!! )

Another reason I posted this thread. The BIOS for the dual-core is
probably quite different from the regular 939 processor. I wonder,
though, would the dual-core BIOS be completely different or have some
compatibility with the regular 939 processor which would allow me to
merely upgrade the BIOS first, then install the processor?

>
> An X2 might just not work at all in a board which has not had its
> BIOS updated ( the BIOS docs are silent on this subject ).
> And if the board does not work at all, obviously you will not be
> able to read the BIOS version, to find out whether the BIOS
> might be the problem, or something else in a new installation is
> screwed up. Hence, a perfect Catch 22 - you may need to install
> a non-X2 just to check motherboard functionality and update the
> BIOS :-(. No problem for a small system-builder. A big problem
> for the do-it-yourself guy building a first-time Socket-939 X2 system.
>
> And of course, if you are upgrading an existing Socket-939
> board to X2, remember to update the BIOS to add X2-compatibility
> BEFORE removing the old processor..................
>
> John Lewis
>
> - Technology early-birds are flying guinea-pigs.

Much appreciated, John.

By the way, here's some information on dual-core benchmarks:

"Benchmarks revealed significant performance gains for multithreaded
benchmarks, with Cinebench showing an 87% performance gain going from
one core to two. Interestingly enough, the dual-core Athlon 64
outperforms a true dual-CPU Opteron 250 2.4GHz setup, coming in second
only to a dual 3.6GHz Xeon setup with Hyper-Threading turned on (four
logical CPUs)."
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/20...0314029588.htm

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips aether <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> The BIOS for the dual-core is probably quite different
> from the regular 939 processor.

Why would you think this? From a software perspective,
there is almost no difference between dual core and SMP.

SMP BIOSes have been around forever, and aren't particularly
complex. One CPU is hardwired as the BSP (Boot Service
Processor) and runs all BIOS functions and uniproc OSes like
MS-DOC and MS-Windows9*.

It also loads SMP OSes which _then_ activate the other
processors via various IPIs.

> http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/20...0314029588.htm
> for multithreaded benchmarks, with Cinebench showing
> an 87% performance gain going from one core to two.

Sounds like a fetch stalled app, governed by memory
latency.

> Interestingly enough, the dual-core Athlon 64
> outperforms a true dual-CPU Opteron 250 2.4GHz setup,

Yep. For sure. Dual core has only one memory
controller, so will be faster than bus arbitration.

> coming in second only to a dual 3.6GHz Xeon setup
> with Hyper-Threading turned on (four logical CPUs)."

That can have four outstanding fetches at once. Yawn.

-- Robert

On Fri, 01 Jul 2005 13:28:45 -0700, aether wrote:

> Another reason I posted this thread. The BIOS for the dual-core is
> probably quite different from the regular 939 processor. I wonder,
> though, would the dual-core BIOS be completely different or have some
> compatibility with the regular 939 processor which would allow me to
> merely upgrade the BIOS first, then install the processor?
>
If your current bios supports the core of the X2 CPU you buy, but doen't
support dual core, it should boot only using one core. Then you can
upgrade the bios to get dual core support. OTOH, if your current bios
doesn't support a non dual cpu of the same core, you're screwed until you
upgrade the bios by some other means.

--
KT133 MB, CPU @2400MHz (24x100): SIS755 MB CPU @2330MHz (10x233)
Need good help? Provide all system info with question.
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
Verizon server http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

On 1 Jul 2005 13:28:45 -0700, "aether" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>John Lewis wrote:
>> On 30 Jun 2005 17:05:59 -0700, "aether" <(E-Mail Removed)>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >The AN8 is, of course, also a Socket 939 based motherboard. Does anyone
>> >know the full extent of the AN8's upgrade capabilities?
>> >
>>
>> AN8 BIOS Version 1.5 supports dual-core (released 20-June-2005)
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> With regard to the general issue of Socket-939 BIOS updates for X2,
>> please note the following:-
>>
>> No mention of X2 in the BIOS update docs, then beware. Especially
>> if you are contemplating a new purchase. Also, even if the BIOS is
>> updated, remember it takes quite a while for the retail channel to be
>> purged !!! Check with the supplier as to the BIOS version shipped
>> in the board, if they know....( and their return-policy !!! )
>
>Another reason I posted this thread. The BIOS for the dual-core is
>probably quite different from the regular 939 processor. I wonder,
>though, would the dual-core BIOS be completely different or have some
>compatibility with the regular 939 processor which would allow me to
>merely upgrade the BIOS first, then install the processor?
>

Of course.... all the upgrades do !! Cannot have a board shipping with
the latest BIOS not work for >95% of current purchasers - those who do

not choose to buy a X2, at least initially.

John Lewis

- Technology early-birds are flying guinea-pigs.

On Fri, 01 Jul 2005 22:19:43 GMT, Wes Newell
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Fri, 01 Jul 2005 13:28:45 -0700, aether wrote:
>
>> Another reason I posted this thread. The BIOS for the dual-core is
>> probably quite different from the regular 939 processor. I wonder,
>> though, would the dual-core BIOS be completely different or have some
>> compatibility with the regular 939 processor which would allow me to
>> merely upgrade the BIOS first, then install the processor?
>>
>If your current bios supports the core of the X2 CPU you buy, but doen't
>support dual core, it should boot only using one core.

Likely, but no guarantee at all !!! If not confirmed in the BIOS docs,
you always have to assume that Murphy's Law applies.

> Then you can
>upgrade the bios to get dual core support.

>OTOH, if your current bios
>doesn't support a non dual cpu of the same core, you're screwed until you
>upgrade the bios by some other means.
>

If the BIOS has been upgraded to support X2, then it will always work
with a non-X2 A64. Otherwise, 2 different versions of a MB would have
to be shipped, the only difference being the BIOS - a non-starter.
Backward compatibility is guaranteed.

John Lewis
- Technology early-birds are flying guinea-pigs.