A7N8X support Sempron or not?

[Kenny]

Older version of this board, I think it's V 1.06.
Confused as to whether it supports Sempron CPU's, some places say it can,
others that it can't.
Currently using Athlon 2500XP Barton core but I suspect it's developing a
fault and would like to change it but all the suppliers I've looked at only
supply Semprons.
I need a definitive answer as to whether if I flash the BIOS using the
1009beta from here:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
I can then replace CPU with a Sempron.
Also what is the maximum speed Sempron I can use given that I may have to
upgrade RAM as well, currently using 512MB PC2700.

 

[Kenny]

Says here:
http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A7N8X
only revision 2.0 will support Semprons so why does the 1009beta for
revision 1.06 say it does?

 

[Paul]

Says here:
http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A7N8X
only revision 2.0 will support Semprons so why does the 1009beta for
revision 1.06 say it does?

Perhaps "beta status" BIOS are not used to update the
cpusupport web page ? Normally, beta BIOS do not come with
release notes, so this case is an exception. In any case,
if the release note says it supports Sempron, then it
probably does.

(Personally, I'd shop for an AthlonXP Mobile chip, like a
2600+ XP-M, but I have no idea what issues you'd run into
with the rev. 1.06 - it is getting hard to do research on
stuff like that. Nforcershq.com used to be a good place to
look, but their search engine received a "redesign", and now
is useless for searching old postings. The Mobile chip has
an unlocked multiplier, so you could use 200x11 if your
board will do FSB400, or with a wire mod to get the higher
multipliers, 166x13, or 133x16.5)

I don't know if any company in the UK carries these or not.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ertycodevalue=507:6978&bop=and&InnerManu=1028

This is info on doing a "wire mod".

Select "socket view", "12.5xFSB" and "13xFSB" and compare them.
The most significant bit of those wire mods is shown in the
next picture. Anything 13 and above has one of the wires flipped
one way, and 12.5 or less flips the wire the other way.

http://www.ocinside.de/go_e.html?/html/workshop/pinmod/amd_pinmod.html

This is supposed to enable multipliers above 12.5x, if you
are using one of the lower FSB rates. This is the signal
that differentiates between the ability to access multipliers
12.5x or less, or 13x or higher. When experimenting, drop the
FSB to the lowest value until you figure it all out.

http://img49.exs.cx/img49/8428/13multi2.jpg

Some info on what the various bridges do on the AMD processors.
http://fab51.com/cpu/barton/athlon-e23.html

Paul

 

[Michael]

According to the official Asus site, it supports up the the Sempron 3000.
But then, an XP3200 is more powerful than the Sempron 3000 I believe. So
you might as well try to find new old stock or a used XP3200+?