Questions about my motherboard (AM2) and AM2+ processors

[Gwen Morse]

I have the Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition Motherboard, with an
AM2 socket.

When googling for information, I found that with a bios upgrade it
"should" support AM2+ processors. However, I also read in at least one
message that would still treat it as an AM2 chip. I'm not very
hardware saavy, and I'm not certain if that's true, or what it really
means. Does it mean that if I buy a quad-core cpu it will only use two
cores? What potential problems are there with upgrading to an AM2+
chip with an AM2 motherboard with updated BIOS?

Also, I love this motherboard, but, the layout is a little bad for my
case. I can't plug my cd/dvd drive into the IDE slot and still fit the
slide-in cage that allows me to plug in extra hard drives. When
checking online, I also found SATA cd/dvd drives. Do these function
just like regular IDE drives, except that they plug into a SATA plug
on the motherboard? Are there any concerns using a SATA cd/dvd drive
instead of IDE? I know installing Windows XP was tricky until I
slipstreamed the SATA drivers. If I have to boot from CD in the future
using a rescue disk, is it likely to cause a problem?

Gwen

 

[Paul]

I have the Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition Motherboard, with an
AM2 socket.

When googling for information, I found that with a bios upgrade it
"should" support AM2+ processors. However, I also read in at least one
message that would still treat it as an AM2 chip. I'm not very
hardware saavy, and I'm not certain if that's true, or what it really
means. Does it mean that if I buy a quad-core cpu it will only use two
cores? What potential problems are there with upgrading to an AM2+
chip with an AM2 motherboard with updated BIOS?

Also, I love this motherboard, but, the layout is a little bad for my
case. I can't plug my cd/dvd drive into the IDE slot and still fit the
slide-in cage that allows me to plug in extra hard drives. When
checking online, I also found SATA cd/dvd drives. Do these function
just like regular IDE drives, except that they plug into a SATA plug
on the motherboard? Are there any concerns using a SATA cd/dvd drive
instead of IDE? I know installing Windows XP was tricky until I
slipstreamed the SATA drivers. If I have to boot from CD in the future
using a rescue disk, is it likely to cause a problem?

Gwen

AM2 and AM2+ are socket compatible. One difference between them,
lies in how the processor is powered. An AM2+ processor splits
power into two "planes".

If you plug an AM2+ processor into an AM2 socket, then both
planes get the same voltage.

If you plug an AM2+ processor into an AM2+ socket, then the
Vcore power supply has two separate signals. There may be
a five phase supply, set up as 4+1 phases. The 4 phase section
powers the majority of the processor, while the 1 phase
section powers the memory interface.

From Wikipedia -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM2+

"The main differences in Socket AM2+ are utilised by AM2+ processors, i.e.

* HyperTransport 3.0 operating at up to 2.6 GHz [that is the connection
from processor to Northbridge, and might matter if video cards really
needed that kind of bandwidth]
* Split power planes: one for the CPU cores, and the other for the
Integrated Memory controller (IMC). This will improve power savings,
especially with integrated graphics, if the CPU cores are in sleep mode
but the IMC is still active. [Big deal, when your top of the line
processor is sucking 140W under load ]

Treating the chip as AM2 isn't that big an issue. One thing
that may disappear, is the AM2+ processor may support DDR2-1066,
but when run on the AM2 socket, the BIOS may only offer DDR2-800.
Since DDR2-1066 likely only works right with two sticks of RAM
and not four sticks, DDR2-800 is the more likely mode of
operation in any case.

There is a 9950 offered here, but it is a 140W processor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103273

The table here, stops at 9850, a 125W processor. It is possible
the Vcore regulator is not ready for 140W.

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M2n32-SLI Deluxe

Asus has a list of 140W motherboards here, but in general, details
of the Vcore circuit of all motherboards are not made public. So
don't expect to find a web page which lists the capability of the
M2N32-SLI Deluxe. We have to be content, "reading between the
lines" of the CPUSupport chart, to guess at the capabilities.

http://event.asus.com/mb/140w/

If you install a 9850 Black Edition, that also does not imply
you can use a large overclock, as that also might cause the power
dissipation to head over the 125W level. But if the processor
is listed in the Asus CPUSupport chart, then it should run at
stock just fine.

As a counterpoint to that advice based on the official support,
someone is running a 9950 here just fine

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...model=M2N32-SLI+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

The other bit of sage advice in this thread, is consider carefully
what the processor is used for - if multimedia programs with
multithreaded software design are being used, then the 9950 is
a win. If you use a lot of older, single threaded software, then
at least for desktop interactive type software, the 6400+ might
be faster (or some lower processor overclocked to 6400+ levels).

Paul

 

[Gwen Morse]

AM2 and AM2+ are socket compatible. One difference between them,
lies in how the processor is powered. An AM2+ processor splits
power into two "planes".

If you plug an AM2+ processor into an AM2 socket, then both
planes get the same voltage.

If you plug an AM2+ processor into an AM2+ socket, then the
Vcore power supply has two separate signals. There may be
a five phase supply, set up as 4+1 phases. The 4 phase section
powers the majority of the processor, while the 1 phase
section powers the memory interface.

<snippage of rest>

Thank you, this was very useful! I have a better idea how to make a
choice.

Gwen