P4T-E Processor Upgrade

[Bill Anderson]

I was reading TomsHardware and came across an article that suggested I
could upgrade my computer's processor:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040830/index.html

Now yes, that article addresses 473 pin sockets and my P4T-E has a 478
pin socket already so I didn't need the adapter, but the PowerLeap site
said they had a processor that would work with my mbo, and I said what
the heck and I ordered one -- the 2.8 mhz processor with 400 mhz bus
speed. It wasn't too expensive -- well, $200. But PowerLeap said it
would work as long as my bios are above v. 1007. I'm running 1008 beta,
dated 6/27/2003.

Here's the PowerLeap site: http://www.powerleap.com/

So today the processor arrived and it's just the processor. No Intel
box. No booklet. No instructions. Not even a tube of thermal goo.

And now I'm reconsidering what I need to do. If my Asus P4T-E is set to
jumperless mode, do I just remove the old processor fan and processor,
pop the new processor in, find me some thermal goo and put the
fan/heatsink back on, and turn the computer on and see what happens?
Will I need to reset the bios? Do I need to review that CPU ratio
multiplier table in the mbo manual again? It's been almost three years
since I've done this; I really don't remember how I did it all before.
Please -- if you've been down this road, can you give me some guidance?

All I want is to reduce the time it takes my computer to process video.
I have a 1.9 ghz P4 now. Maybe if I can make this new processor work
I'll see a bit of an improvement. Maybe?

 

[Ronald Cole]

I was reading TomsHardware and came across an article that suggested I
could upgrade my computer's processor:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040830/index.html ....
So today the processor arrived and it's just the processor. No Intel
box. No booklet. No instructions. Not even a tube of thermal goo.
And now I'm reconsidering what I need to do.

That P4T-E is a 400-MHz FSB and uses RDRAM, which Samsung isn't making
anymore. If you're thinking that you'll need more memory, too, then
I'd send the processor back for a refund and buy a new mainboard.

 

[Paul]

I was reading TomsHardware and came across an article that suggested I
could upgrade my computer's processor:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040830/index.html

Now yes, that article addresses 473 pin sockets and my P4T-E has a 478
pin socket already so I didn't need the adapter, but the PowerLeap site
said they had a processor that would work with my mbo, and I said what
the heck and I ordered one -- the 2.8 mhz processor with 400 mhz bus
speed. It wasn't too expensive -- well, $200. But PowerLeap said it
would work as long as my bios are above v. 1007. I'm running 1008 beta,
dated 6/27/2003.

Here's the PowerLeap site: http://www.powerleap.com/

So today the processor arrived and it's just the processor. No Intel
box. No booklet. No instructions. Not even a tube of thermal goo.

And now I'm reconsidering what I need to do. If my Asus P4T-E is set to
jumperless mode, do I just remove the old processor fan and processor,
pop the new processor in, find me some thermal goo and put the
fan/heatsink back on, and turn the computer on and see what happens?
Will I need to reset the bios? Do I need to review that CPU ratio
multiplier table in the mbo manual again? It's been almost three years
since I've done this; I really don't remember how I did it all before.
Please -- if you've been down this road, can you give me some guidance?

All I want is to reduce the time it takes my computer to process video.
I have a 1.9 ghz P4 now. Maybe if I can make this new processor work
I'll see a bit of an improvement. Maybe?

This is the nearest match to what I think you bought. I found this
in the Pentium 4 section (a long list):

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sSpec=SL7EY

The family code is 0F29 hex. This info is needed for microcode loading
and finding evidence of a microcode in a certain version of BIOS,
implies a level of support for the processor. Note that this processor
isn't listed on the cpusupport page:
http://usa.asus.com/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx

Downloading the 1007e BIOS from the Asus page gives these microcodes.
Note there is no 0F29 hex in this BIOS:

Version UpdateID Date CPUID Checksum LoadVers Platform
00000001 00000012 11.01.2002 00000F0A 26CA4178 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000028 12.01.2002 00000F12 2F6967B9 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000001 29.05.2001 00000F21 78CDDD37 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000008 30.07.2001 00000F23 7483278F 00000001 00000004
00000001 0000000B 14.01.2002 00000F24 68298430 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000003 11.02.2002 00000F13 3793F1BB 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000024 28.06.2002 00000F27 D7490795 00000001 00000004

The 1008.004 beta BIOS has these microcodes - and 0F29 is there:
Version UpdateID Date CPUID Checksum LoadVers Platform
00000001 00000014 16.07.2002 00000F0A 64731550 00000001 00000004
00000001 0000002C 16.07.2002 00000F12 22CA8EB8 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000001 29.05.2001 00000F21 78CDDD37 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000008 30.07.2001 00000F23 7483278F 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000018 07.11.2002 00000F24 BAAFD460 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000004 17.07.2002 00000F13 B0C33AA0 00000001 00000004
00000001 00000011 14.04.2003 00000F29 E2A5CACA 00000001 00000004 <--
00000001 00000033 06.11.2002 00000F27 3D579E37 00000001 00000004

I would recommend flashing the 1008.004 BIOS, to improve the
odds that the upgrade will go successfully. The board might
still do something with your current BIOS, if you are at all
concerned with the odds of flashing successfully. If it didn't
boot with your current BIOS, you could always put the old
processor back, and then try flashing. (Your choice.)
If all that is missing is microcode, you might survive without
it, or you could even find a copy of CTMC and install your own
microcode, without flashing the whole BIOS chip. (A bit more work.)
The new processor has to be installed in the socket, to update
with CTMC.

Before you flash, record all your BIOS settings. There might be
some that you have customized, and are not the default value, so
it is handy to write them down somewhere. I recommend
a MSDOS boot floppy based method of flashing, first backing up
the current BIOS onto the floppy, with the flashing program,
and then attempting to flash with the new BIOS. If the flash doesn't
look like it is progressing well, then, without leaving the program,
flash the backup copy of BIOS image back into the flash chip.
When you get into the new BIOS at startup, do a "Load Setup
Defaults", followed by a save and exit. After that, you can restore
your custom settings.

A copy of aflash221 is available on the download page, as well as
clicking BIOS, then Beta, to get to the beta BIOS download.

http://usa.asus.com/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4T-E&Type=All

HTH,
Paul

 

[Bill Anderson]

<snip>

I'm running 1008 beta,

I would recommend flashing the 1008.004 BIOS, to improve the
odds that the upgrade will go successfully.

<snip>


Thanks for the info, Paul. I went to the site you suggested and found
that the latest version of the 1008 beta BIOS seems to be the one I
downloaded and flashed back in January of this year: 1008e004.zip.
That's the name of the file Asus offers for download, and that's the
name of the file I still have sitting the download section of my hard
drive. So that's gotta be the one I used. I flashed from a floppy just
like I was instructed to do. I seem to recall I downloaded the file
from a German site, as the main Asus site didn't have it at the time.
So apparently there's no need to flash now, and the processor should
work? Thanks.

 

[Paul]

<snip>

I'm running 1008 beta,


<snip>


Thanks for the info, Paul. I went to the site you suggested and found
that the latest version of the 1008 beta BIOS seems to be the one I
downloaded and flashed back in January of this year: 1008e004.zip.
That's the name of the file Asus offers for download, and that's the
name of the file I still have sitting the download section of my hard
drive. So that's gotta be the one I used. I flashed from a floppy just
like I was instructed to do. I seem to recall I downloaded the file
from a German site, as the main Asus site didn't have it at the time.
So apparently there's no need to flash now, and the processor should
work? Thanks.

Yep. Buy a little thermal compound and you are all set.
We'll see if Powerleap knows their stuff or not
(I.e. That 2.8GHz/FSB400 works on the board.)

Paul

 

[Barry Watzman]

I was not aware that there was a 400MHz FSB Pentium 4 above 2.6 GHz, but
if there is, presumably it would work in the P4T-E. You shouldn't need
to do anything, but I would make sure that you have the latest BIOS.
The multiplier settings are set inside the CPU, and the motherboard
jumpers are just plain ignored, no matter what you set them to, unless
you have an "engineering sample" CPU (very, very unlikely).

 

[Barry Watzman]

Actually, Samsung is still making RDRAM. It's expensive, but it's
available in the 16-bit 184 pin variety (which is what the P4T-E uses).
What's not available is the 232-pin 32-bit variant, used almost
exclusively in the P4T533 motherboard.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

I was reading TomsHardware and came across an article that suggested I
could upgrade my computer's processor:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040830/index.html

Now yes, that article addresses 473 pin sockets and my P4T-E has a 478
pin socket already so I didn't need the adapter, but the PowerLeap site
said they had a processor that would work with my mbo, and I said what
the heck and I ordered one -- the 2.8 mhz processor with 400 mhz bus
speed. It wasn't too expensive -- well, $200. But PowerLeap said it
would work as long as my bios are above v. 1007. I'm running 1008 beta,
dated 6/27/2003.

Here's the PowerLeap site: http://www.powerleap.com/

So today the processor arrived and it's just the processor. No Intel
box. No booklet. No instructions. Not even a tube of thermal goo.

And now I'm reconsidering what I need to do. If my Asus P4T-E is set to
jumperless mode, do I just remove the old processor fan and processor,
pop the new processor in, find me some thermal goo and put the
fan/heatsink back on, and turn the computer on and see what happens?
Will I need to reset the bios? Do I need to review that CPU ratio
multiplier table in the mbo manual again? It's been almost three years
since I've done this; I really don't remember how I did it all before.
Please -- if you've been down this road, can you give me some guidance?

All I want is to reduce the time it takes my computer to process video.
I have a 1.9 ghz P4 now. Maybe if I can make this new processor work
I'll see a bit of an improvement. Maybe?

If you get this working could you post your results? I think I saw the
same processor at Tiger a couple of months ago but some of the people in
this group thought it was a Celeron. I also have a P4T-E and would like
to upgrade. If I can get the same 8% overclocking to work reliably I
should have a 3 GHz computer without having to spend $500 to change
everything.

 

[Bill Anderson]

If you get this working could you post your results? I think I saw the
same processor at Tiger a couple of months ago but some of the people in
this group thought it was a Celeron. I also have a P4T-E and would like
to upgrade. If I can get the same 8% overclocking to work reliably I
should have a 3 GHz computer without having to spend $500 to change
everything.

OK, I think I'll give it a try tonight. If you don't hear back from me,
you'll know I've fried the computer.

 

[Bill Anderson]

OK, I think I'll give it a try tonight. If you don't hear back from me,
you'll know I've fried the computer.

Well that didn't take long. Installation took less than 30 minutes even
including the discovery that three of the CPU pins were slightly bent
and I had to straighten them, carefully, with a knife blade. Dropped
right into place after I tinkered with it.

I used some "silicon-base" heat sink compound that I bought at the local
Radio Shack. "Provides heat transfer from semiconductors to heat sink."
And the heat sink/fan is the unit I got from Intel with my original
1.9 GHz CPU. Seems to be working OK so far.

After installing the new CPU I see this on the boot screen:

Intel P4 2800 MHz
RDRam Clock 400 MHz

The WinXP System Properties/General window says:

Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
2.81GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM

Here's what's on the new CPU that I received from PowerLeap:

Intel (m) (c) 01
Pentium (r) 4
2.80 GHz/512/400
SL7EY Malay
Q415A321

T415A854
0448

Don't know what it all means, but there you are.

When I first booted with the new CPU I hit delete right after the post
beep just so I could enter BIOS setup and see what was going on.
Apparently I'd have been put into BIOS setup automatically anyway,
because when I arrived there a special message was waiting for me. It
said the system had booted at 100 MHz just to insure I could get to the
BIOS. And it had automatically set the clock speed option to "manual"
and it offered me a list of speeds to choose from. The slowest speed,
at the top of the list, was 2800 MHz, which I chose. I saved the
change, exited BIOS, and when the system booted everything appeared to
be working normally.

I haven't yet put the side panel back on the computer case. When I do,
I may encounter an overheating problem, I dunno. But the bottom line is
that to all appearances I got what I expected to get from PowerLeap and
it seems so far to work as advertised.

Many many thanks to all who replied.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Well that didn't take long. Installation took less than 30 minutes even
including the discovery that three of the CPU pins were slightly bent
and I had to straighten them, carefully, with a knife blade. Dropped
right into place after I tinkered with it.

I used some "silicon-base" heat sink compound that I bought at the local
Radio Shack. "Provides heat transfer from semiconductors to heat sink."
And the heat sink/fan is the unit I got from Intel with my original
1.9 GHz CPU. Seems to be working OK so far.

After installing the new CPU I see this on the boot screen:

Intel P4 2800 MHz
RDRam Clock 400 MHz

The WinXP System Properties/General window says:

Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
2.81GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM

Here's what's on the new CPU that I received from PowerLeap:

Intel (m) (c) 01
Pentium (r) 4
2.80 GHz/512/400
SL7EY Malay
Q415A321

T415A854
0448

Don't know what it all means, but there you are.

When I first booted with the new CPU I hit delete right after the post
beep just so I could enter BIOS setup and see what was going on.
Apparently I'd have been put into BIOS setup automatically anyway,
because when I arrived there a special message was waiting for me. It
said the system had booted at 100 MHz just to insure I could get to the
BIOS. And it had automatically set the clock speed option to "manual"
and it offered me a list of speeds to choose from. The slowest speed,
at the top of the list, was 2800 MHz, which I chose. I saved the
change, exited BIOS, and when the system booted everything appeared to
be working normally.

I haven't yet put the side panel back on the computer case. When I do,
I may encounter an overheating problem, I dunno. But the bottom line is
that to all appearances I got what I expected to get from PowerLeap and
it seems so far to work as advertised.

Many many thanks to all who replied.

Thanks for the update, I will probably get it to upgrade my computer. I
am looking for a decrease in importing large (over 600,000 lines)
files into Excel. My other option is to replace everything for over $500.
This way I can wait another year until the newest and greatest are
stable and hopefully not buy the next Betamax (as RDRAM unfortunately
seems to be).

 

[Paul]

I used some "silicon-base" heat sink compound that I bought at the local
Radio Shack. "Provides heat transfer from semiconductors to heat sink."
And the heat sink/fan is the unit I got from Intel with my original
1.9 GHz CPU. Seems to be working OK so far.

<<snip>>

Don't put your tools away yet. Get yourself some real thermal compound,
intended for a computer heat sink. The zinc compound you bought will
not last forever. At least, my experience using it with electronics
projects has been poor. A compound that is a bit thicker is what
you want. Arctic Silver or Arctic Ceramique are popular, but there
are a number of other products that will be within 2-3C temperature
wise. Where I live, Arctic Silver is available at several of the
many computer stores. (See arcticsilver.com for info on how to install
and on what forgery products look like.)

http://www.arcticsilver.com/
http://www.arcticsilver.com/thermal_interface_basics.htm
http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

After the paste has had a couple of days to settle in, run a copy
of Prime95 in "torture test" mode (mersenne.org). Use a copy of
Motherboard Monitor (MBM5) or Asus Probe, to record temperatures
from the motherboard. Measure room temperature, motherboard temp
as recorded by the computer, and CPU temp.

The two measures of cooling performance are (mobo - room) and
(CPU - mobo). If well cooled, (mobo - room) should be 7C or less.
(CPU - mobo) is a function of the heatsink and of the compound.

If you do this test a year from now, and (CPU - mobo) is 5C higher
than when you did the test above, then it is time to "re-grease"
the CPU. After re-application, allow a couple of days again for
the compound to settle in, then repeat the measurement.

In terms of thermal performance, in fact the (mobo - room) is
more important than the CPU (at least for Northwood processors).
Your disk drive and power supply are the least reliable parts of
the computer, and keeping the case temperature down will extend
their lives. Considering the amount of time the average computer
user keeps a processor before upgrading, the CPU temperature
isn't nearly as critical.

The situation on the top of the line 115W Prescotts is different,
in that they will go into thermal throttle mode if not cooled
properly, as they are near the limits of air cooling (water block
cooling works better). Your processor is about 68W while running
Prime95.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Barry Watzman]

In a sense, every computer is a Betamax. There's nothing wrong with
RDRAM. For the 1st half of the time that it was being sold (including
the P4T-E), the alternative was SDRAM. Where would you be with that,
and was it a "betamax"? PC1066 RDRAM (faster than what you have) is
STILL faster than 800MHz DDR, which also won't work in the next
generation of motherboards that will use DDR2.

Intel's going to go to a 1066MHz memory bus with the second generation
of DDR2 and the next generation of motherboards, in 2005. But we had
1066MHz RDRAM back in 2002, with the P4T533 and the P4T533-C. It was 3
years ahead of it's time. However, when those boards come out, SDRAM,
DDR and even 800MHz DDR2 will be "old technology". Not to mention that
all of our PCI and AGP cards (of whatever flavor) and IDE drives will
all be dead, old technology within about 2 years.

The real shame is that the memory system introduced in 1999 (RDRAM) was
superior to SDRAM and DDR, and the 1066 speed grade that we had in 2002
will only be equaled by 1066 MHz DDR2 in 2005. And Rambus XDR is far
superior to anything that anyone has going out even 5-6 years in their
pipeline:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=18371

The [far] superior technical solution was defeated by politics and an
illegal conspiracy by many of the industry leaders. Yet, Rambus is
still 5 years ahead of the rest of the industry.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

In a sense, every computer is a Betamax. There's nothing wrong with
RDRAM. For the 1st half of the time that it was being sold (including
the P4T-E), the alternative was SDRAM. Where would you be with that,
and was it a "betamax"? PC1066 RDRAM (faster than what you have) is
STILL faster than 800MHz DDR, which also won't work in the next
generation of motherboards that will use DDR2.

Intel's going to go to a 1066MHz memory bus with the second generation
of DDR2 and the next generation of motherboards, in 2005. But we had
1066MHz RDRAM back in 2002, with the P4T533 and the P4T533-C. It was 3
years ahead of it's time. However, when those boards come out, SDRAM,
DDR and even 800MHz DDR2 will be "old technology". Not to mention that
all of our PCI and AGP cards (of whatever flavor) and IDE drives will
all be dead, old technology within about 2 years.

The real shame is that the memory system introduced in 1999 (RDRAM) was
superior to SDRAM and DDR, and the 1066 speed grade that we had in 2002
will only be equaled by 1066 MHz DDR2 in 2005. And Rambus XDR is far
superior to anything that anyone has going out even 5-6 years in their
pipeline:

Exactly why I compared it to the Betamax. The Betamax was superior to
VHS but politics ended up killing it.
I love the RDRAM, but cannot move it to a new motherboard or get
reasonably priced new pieces.
I mainly want to wait long enough for the new technologies to sort out
and find which ones will be around for a couple of years.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=18371

The [far] superior technical solution was defeated by politics and an
illegal conspiracy by many of the industry leaders. Yet, Rambus is
still 5 years ahead of the rest of the industry.

This way I can wait another year until the newest and greatest are
stable and hopefully not buy the next Betamax (as RDRAM unfortunately
seems to be).