Athlon XP-M 2600+ and Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe - no higher multipliers?

[Erik Harris]

Can someone clarify something for me? I was always under the impression that
the multiplier values valid for an Athlon CPU were built into the CPU, and
not into the motherboard.

However, I picked up an Athlon XP-M 2600+ from NewEgg, which is supposed to
run at 133x14 by default (or was it 133x14.5?). However, I can't get any of
the higher multipliers to work. They all work as their lower counterparts on
this CPU. I can get a 6X multiplier, but not a 14X multiplier, for example.

Anyone have any idea why this is? I plan on boosting the FSB and reducing
the multiplier (gingerly pushing it up, currently have it at 190x11, knowing
full well that it should be able to go quite a bit faster). But I'm still
curious about this.

Thanks

--
Erik Harris n$wsr$ader@$harrishom$.com
AIM: KngFuJoe http://www.eharrishome.com
Chinese-Indonesian MA Club http://cimac.eharrishome.com

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[BigBadger]

Because of the different bridge configuration on mobile CPU's the multiplier
is not recognised properly on desktop boards.... they all get recognised a
6x. If you had a motherboard that supported 5th bit multiplier control you
would have manual access to the full range, however your board obviously
does not have this feature so for a CPU that is recognised with a multi 12.5
or below ,you only get access to multi's up to 12.5, for a CPU with default
multi higher than 12.5 you get access to the multi range 12.5 to 24x.
You can wire pins to make the default multi higher if you wish.

 

[Erik Harris]

Because of the different bridge configuration on mobile CPU's the multiplier
is not recognised properly on desktop boards.... they all get recognised a
6x. If you had a motherboard that supported 5th bit multiplier control you
would have manual access to the full range, however your board obviously
does not have this feature so for a CPU that is recognised with a multi 12.5
or below ,you only get access to multi's up to 12.5, for a CPU with default
multi higher than 12.5 you get access to the multi range 12.5 to 24x.
You can wire pins to make the default multi higher if you wish.

Thanks for the explanation! No need to modify the CPU, I don't plan on using
any of the higher multipliers. I'd much rather use higher bus speeds.

Another XP-M question - for those using the XP-M chips on desktop boards,
does 3DMark2003 recognize your chip as a Duron? Most software I've used
recognizes the XP-M as an XP-M, but 3DMark2003 tells me I've got a 2100MHz
Duron. Like with my last question, I'm not overly concerned, just curious.

--
Erik Harris n$wsr$ader@$harrishom$.com
AIM: KngFuJoe http://www.eharrishome.com
Chinese-Indonesian MA Club http://cimac.eharrishome.com

The above email address is obfuscated to try to prevent SPAM.
Replace each dollar sign with an "e" for the correct address.