dual Athlon processor motherboards

[Apollyon]

hi,

I want to use dual processors on my computer and to do so I need to purchase a new motherboard. The processors I own are both AMD Athon XPs. As I cannot find any motherboards that specifically support 2 athlon XPs, I was wondering if a motherboard that is buildt for running dual Athlon MPs might support dual athlon XPs sufficiently well.

thanks in advance.

[Gobalopper]

Are you sure? I will check the Asus site, I thought I remember they had one.

[number6]

hi,

I want to use dual processors on my computer and to do so I need to purchase a new motherboard. The processors I own are both AMD Athon XPs. As I cannot find any motherboards that specifically support 2 athlon XPs, I was wondering if a motherboard that is buildt for running dual Athlon MPs might support dual athlon XPs sufficiently well.

thanks in advance.

Here is a good article on AMD's 760MP motherboard:

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1483&p=1

I have not really looked into this area too much. According to the article above AMD only supports the MP processors for the chipset, but you can still use other processors (even Durons!). The article said that the performance will go down if you use other processors. There is quite a bit more power built into the MP series (like full Intel SIMD support and better data prefetch). If you want a lot more details on AMD's high end server/workstation processor processors read this article : http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1546&p=1 I really don't see the need for multiprocessor setups for home use. If you are running a dedicated file server or something like that I could see why you want/need one though. You are going to pay a premium for a multiproc setup and probably barely notice the difference unless you go top of the line everything, including high speed SCSI hard drives in a Raid configuration.

[Nyarlathotep]

Look for the following boards:

Asus A7M266-D

Epox EP-M762A

Gigabyte 7DPXDW-P

MSI K7D Master-L

Iwill MPX2

Tyan Tiger MPX (S2466N-4M)

[Apollyon]

thanks for your replies everyone =)

ok nyar, I checked up on the Asus one and found the following info:

Compatibility- PC

Manufacturer- Asustek

Model- A7M266-D

Packaged Quantity 1

Product Line- ASUS AMD 760 MP Chipset

Mainboard

Chipset Type- AMD-760 MP

Compatible- Processors Duron

Compatible- Processors Athlon

Form Factor ATX

Type Desktop / deskside

now normally this site that I found the information on (www.dabs.com) will display specific data applying to processor compatibility, i.e. they will put specifically "compatible with - AMD Athlon XP".

As you can see above, it does not say this, and I'm worried if this is really compatible?

[number6]

Here is ASUS's specs for the motherboard you listed:

http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7m266-d/overview.htm

Like I said in the earlier post it should work with 2 XP processors, but AMD does not officially support that. Basically you are on your own if you go with anything outside of the MP processors. The latest prices on http://www.pricewatch.com show a top of the line Athlon XP 2600 at $284 and the Athlon MP 2400 at $233. Looks like you can get the MP processors cheaper anyway.

[Apollyon]

ok thank you, number6.

OK my second question is:

if I were to use the afore-mentioned motherboard, is it possible for me to use 1 XP and 1 MP athlon processor? Or would that just cause confusion and mass panic?

[number6]

I see where you are going with this. You already have one XP and want to just get an MP and the Dual proc motherbard right? Read this thread:

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/print.hwz?aid=393

It looks like it can be done with just XP's or just MP's. I would not recommend mixing because they may have slightly different voltage an timing settings and who knows what else.

[Apollyon]

thanks again.

Apparently the newer versions of the XP cant be fooled by joining the L5 bridge, do you think this is true?

[number6]

These newer motherboards may be able to handle the XP's without any mods to the CPU at all. Your best bet would be to contact ASUS via email or tech support and see what they say. Here's the email for tech questions:

tsd@asus.com.tw

If I have time later this week I will try and see what else I can find on this issue. What you want to do seems fairly reasonable. I think AMD is trying to force people to buy the MP processor if they want to run in Dual Proc mode. They did design the chip with that purpose in mind.

[gryphon]

For wat it's worth, I don't have a lot of good experiances with the VIA chipset and dual's.

I'm running a Intel at home [ bioth chipset and processor ] and am quite pleased with it.

But that doesn't mean an XP shouldn't work or be have the funn ;)

And although I find the Xeon much more stable then a regular Pentium, Don't have a clue [ not one worth mentioning anyway ;) ] about an XP and XPmp.

[Apollyon]

ok I sent an email to Asus. Now I must wait for their response.

[Apollyon]

they said that no motherboards exist that are compatible with Athlon Xps... very helpful.

[Nyarlathotep]

I can't confirm, but it might be that they officially needs to say that XP processors are not supported. However, unofficially it probably work. Just like with DDR400 ram on some boards. THe new SiS chipset officially doesn't support it. However, it does work if you put DDR400 ram in it.

Not sure though :-

[Apollyon]

ok thanks for your help.