Question for anyone running an Athlon XP on a KT-133a M/B ..

Hi,

I'm wanting to do a nice cheap upgrade for my computer, namely upgrade the
CPU.. I currently have an Abit KT7A V1.0(but what's important is the 133A
Via chipset..) with a Thunderbird 800 (o/c 1Gig) and would like to replace
the cpu for an Athlon XP.. but I have a few questions I would like some help
with before I go out and spend my hard earned cash!

1) I know the Athlon XP is not officially supported on the M/B but I also
know the XP processor will work unofficailly.. originally I was going to buy
the XP 2400 as this is the fastest 266MHz bus version made.. and the M/B
will only run upto 266MHz bus.. however i've heard that the new Barton CPU's
also run fine on the m/b though of course at the 266MHz speed... Do these
run ok at 266MHz? will the board automatically run it at 266MHz? and will
the extra cache available on the cpu work ok?

2) I understand all the Athlon cpus in the range come 'unlocked' as
standard... so will I be able to set it for the right speed by just setting
the speed in the bios? I'm also aware that the nre cpus use a 5-bit number
for setting the speed of the cpu and my board can only set it as a 4-bit
number?!? What will this mean exactly? Will I have to set the cpu speed to
something different in the bios that what i acturally want it to be? also
will I need to modify the cpu somehow to set the speed correctly?

3) What is the fastest cpu I can put in the KT7A?? Would I be better running
a Barton underclocked to this max speed or one of the older XP's
overclocked?

Sorry for so many questions.. I've searched for soem webpages on the subject
but they don't clarify what i'm after very well.. I'm sure some of you peeps
have been through all this before and will be able to give me the answers


THANKS!!!!!!!

Simon

Simon Bussey wrote:
 > Hi,
 >
 > I'm wanting to do a nice cheap upgrade for my computer, namely upgrade the
 > CPU.. I currently have an Abit KT7A V1.0(but what's important is the 133A
 > Via chipset..) with a Thunderbird 800 (o/c 1Gig) and would like to replace
 > the cpu for an Athlon XP.. but I have a few questions I would like some
 > help with before I go out and spend my hard earned cash!

No problem.

 > 1) I know the Athlon XP is not officially supported on the M/B but I also
 > know the XP processor will work unofficailly.. originally I was going to
 > buy the XP 2400 as this is the fastest 266MHz bus version made.. and the
 > M/B will only run upto 266MHz bus.. however i've heard that the new
 > Barton CPU's also run fine on the m/b though of course at the 266MHz
 > speed... Do these run ok at 266MHz? will the board automatically run it
 > at 266MHz? and will the extra cache available on the cpu work ok?

As long as you can set the FSB in the bios, it should be ok. The cache will
work.

 > 2) I understand all the Athlon cpus in the range come 'unlocked' as
 > standard... so will I be able to set it for the right speed by just
 > setting the speed in the bios? I'm also aware that the nre cpus use a
 > 5-bit number for setting the speed of the cpu and my board can only set
 > it as a 4-bit number?!? What will this mean exactly? Will I have to set
 > the cpu speed to something different in the bios that what i acturally
 > want it to be? also will I need to modify the cpu somehow to set the
 > speed correctly?

Right, if your board can only change the lower 4 bits, what that means is
that if you get a Barton 2500+, with a default multiplier of 11, you cannot
get the BIOS to change it above 12.5. If you lower the FSB, this is exactly
what you will want to do. If you think you will be comfortable/happy about
doing a wire-in-the-socket mod... don't worry. If you don't wish to do
that, get a CPU with a multiplier 13 or above.

 > 3) What is the fastest cpu I can put in the KT7A?? Would I be better
 > running a Barton underclocked to this max speed or one of the older XP's
 > overclocked?

The fastest official CPU would be the Barton 3200+. But you'd have to lower
the FSB and increase the multiplier. You may as well get either a Barton
2500+ if you're willing to wire-in-the-socket or a T'bred B with a 13 or
above multiplier.

 > Sorry for so many questions.. I've searched for soem webpages on the
 > subject but they don't clarify what i'm after very well.. I'm sure some
 > of you peeps have been through all this before and will be able to give
 > me the answers

Thanks for trying...

Ben
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