CPU - (Part 1 of 3) ok, it's afficial !!! My first...

[vhelp]

. . .MELT-DOWN!!!

So, Now, I have no choice but to get another CPU. But my
pc store has no more Athlon T-Brd 900mhz chips! They are
(or were) selling them for $89 bucks, though I paid $175
for the cpu back in March 2001.

MY MOTHERBOARD:
* MSI K7T PRO 2-A MB w/ via KT133 chipset.

Ok, my concirn is this, they were willing to offer me an
XP 1700 chip, but they said that I might have to do a flash
of my bios. I thought that I would need an whole NEW
motherboard AND cpu, but they said that I might only need
to flash my bios - so, I'm confused. They said that all
these XP are, are 700mhz DOUBled to 1.4 or more mhz.
My MB says can go as high as 1.2ghz

Any of you MB gorus out there agree... what my PC person is
saying is true?
And, that all I have to do is pop out my old 900mhz T-BRD
chip and replace w/ one of these FASTer XP chips????

Please advise. I'm very low on monies and I MUST make this
sacrifise on this cpu upgrade! I can't wait and order
through the mail (no card) and they are selling one for
$195 (won't go lower for me)

I welcome ANY advise / comments / tips, etc....

Thank you all for you time.

- vhelp
.
.
.
HISTORY:
----------
Today, when I first walked in the door, and turned on both
my PCs, I continue my busy schedule with VCDhelp and things
and between not being able to get into VCDhelp due to maybe
problem on their end or what-not, I sat and kept waiting
for VCDhelp to come - finally came up after 10 or 15 minutes
or so, but while I was reading some of the posts, I turned
to look over my 1st pc and saw that everything was ok.

All of the sudden, the BLUE screen came up and then my pc
shut down! Right away I knew what had happed. I blow my
cpu. In short, you see, my cpu fan failed, so i jimmied
another fan on top of it and it's ben working great sense.
But, today, in all the confusion, I FORGOT TO PLUG THAT
DAM AC cord for the FAN, and well, you know what happened!!


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: vhelp on 2001-12-26 18:15:54 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: vhelp on 2001-12-28 18:01:09 ]</font>

[JHebert]

Check the MSI website for BIOS downloads and support information. I think this is the link you want:
http://www.msi.com.tw/support/bios/bios.php?model=K7T+Pro2-A
Flashing your motherboard BIOS is fairly straightforward procedure but be careful and follow instructions exactly. You might want to leave it to your pc store if you are unsure how to do it.
The Athlon XP should work fine with your motherboard with the latest BIOS.
By the way the Athlon XP is NOT just a "doubled 700" but is a new core with several major enhancements over earlier Athlon processors.

[vhelp]

JHebert,

I'm already excited (in addition to your post) !!

I'm looking at the possiblity of FASTer encodes, he, he.....
Mind you, I'm forced to upgrade to FASTer cpu do to my
stupidity So, this is my justification else I wouldn't have
needed to and would have waited till July of 2002 to upgrade.

So, anyways, you say that it WILL work in my current MB
and that I have to Flash my bios (as my pc person said)
Do you know what's the highest I can go in these XP's
and, what great features do the XP's offer over my old T-BRD??
I've pretty much ignored other posts of XP cause I wasn't
planning on upgrading. Sorry for all these questions, but I'm
really locked in anticipation - I have to wait till tomorrow PM.

I may also post my encoding time with the new XP.

[JHebert]

Vhelp,

Before you get too excited,
I said Athlon XP should work in your motherboard, but be sure to check with MSI for definite answer.
Flashing the BIOS can do PERMANENT damage to your motherboard if mistakes are made.
One possible catch-22 problem is that your old cpu is fried, but you need to have a cpu installed so that you can flash the BIOS to support the new Athlon XP. You may need to take it to the shop so they can temporarily install an old cpu just to complete the flashing, before installing the new Athlon XP cpu.
As for new features, the Athlon XP has SSE instruction extensions (like the Pentium III) in addition to the AMD 3DNow extensions so you get accelerated performance for SSE enabled programs. There are also other internal enhancements to the core that improve overall performance and reduce heat and power usage.

[vhelp]

JHebert,

Thank you for that tip-bit. Just what I was looking for.

Now, would like to mention my current pc startup issues.
1 - it start up and maybe last up to 3 - 5 minutes. The
way I see it is this, if I don't try and turn on off on off, etc.
I'll have a better chance at Flashing my BIOS with my
current blown CPU. I take it, that it should only take a couple
of seconds to flash, and then I can turn system off, and install
the new chip?? I figure, if I keep trying to turn on my system
I'll more than likely loose any chance of flashing - so i'll hold
off till tomorrow.

I went to the site (link) you proviced me, but got lost w/ all those
.zip files and versions. What I did was, I D/L'd the first .zip in
the list - had 11/29 as latest date.
I'm guessing I need the flash app, so I D/L'd the Award Version
of their flash.exe app.
If I read the steps correctly. . .(via this BIOS link)
and followed the direction for the Award bios.

Do I have to answer any other questions or wait for a response or
something, or will it just take 3 seconds and shut down my PC or
will I have to shut it down myself, or what? I'm hoping that the
whole process wont take more then 2 minutes including booting
from floppy. I don't want to shell out an extra $45 bucks for
him to flash (that's what he charges)

One more question, I see that they have the 1700 and the 1800.
Since my pc peson has both. . .
* does it matter which one I get?
- Is it worth the extra 100mhz for the 1800 or am I NOT gonna see difference.
- as for price, R they like a $200 more the that extra 100mhz?
* It I go with the 1700, will I loose any benefits over the 1800.
* and, last will I have to re-install Windows 98 all over again ???????

I think that about covers it.
Thank you again.

- vhelp

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: vhelp on 2001-12-26 20:16:02 ]</font>

[speedy]

Confirm your motherboard supports XP chips. Probably does. I know my ASUS board does. Download the flash upgrade. Copy to a floppy. Boot from floppy.

Follow on screen instructions. Flashing is different that upgrading software. You are actually writing code directly to a EPROM chip on your motherboard. Be certain you download the correct BIOS upgrade.

CAUTION:

AMD is playing games now too. The XP 1900 isn't a 1900 clock speed. Visit the AMD site for specifics. They are using model or version numbers now. The actual speed is lower. Lots lower. Just from memory if I remember right the 1900 XP has a clock speed of around 1600 or so. Still the other new features make it a good upgrade.

[vhelp]

speedy,

Thanks, as I've said, I've got no choice in the matter!
I need an new CPU, weather it be the 1700, 1800, or 1900
(did know there was a 1900) I'm getting one for sure!! He, he.....

I can't wait to compare my encoding speeds though.
My most current encdoign for 1 hour captures were just under
3 hours. I'm hoping that this will change to 2 hours???

In the long run, I'm gonna bring in a bootable disk to my pc
person and have him put the latest Flash/BIOS apps on it and
I'll take it home and run it. And, I'll ask him for any advise
tip while I'm there. I'm hoping not to spend more then $200
bucks, unless it's REALLY worth it!!

Thank you agian.

- vhelp

[Sefy]

Any Socket A mainboard will support Athlon XP, what you might not get is the extra features of the CPU if your mainboard does not have a supporting BIOS, you will also have to have a board that supports 266mhz bus.

And from what i've heard from a guy on the forum who had the same CPU as mine (T-Bird 1ghz/266bus) and upgraded to XP 1600, he got over 50% boost in performance on the same board

[vhelp]

sefy,

thanks for your response.

* MSI K7T PRO 2-A MB w/ VIA KT133 chipset

However, I've since got an XP 1700+ CPU.
(and now working, after 10hours of lockups and things!!)

It's really a 1467MHz chip. . . "Quantispeed" is what it is.

I am running plain old Windows 98

Here is my Part 2 link. I kind of misslabled it - sorry!
I may rename it now, since I have the CPU working finally.

Also, as for CPU speed increase. Well, forget about it.
I'm definately not even getting close to 50% boost.
Windows loads up in the same amount of time. Well, another
thread for this maybe...
-vhelp

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: vhelp on 2001-12-28 17:29:16 ]</font>

[Sefy]

As far as I know, if you want Windows98 to take advantage of your CPU features, you MUST install it from scratch, i've read in several places that when you install 98 using T-Bird it does not include several enhancements, and when you install it using XP, those enhancements are only then installed, so that would explain your problems.

As for the CPU speed, i am well aware that XP 1700 is not 1.7ghz, but it IS when you compare it to Pentium 4 at 1.7ghz

[vhelp]

Sefy,

Thanks again... for confirming my susspiccians (spelling)
Yes, I think I have to re-install windows 98 again, for the ump-tingth
time!!! But, right now, I can't cause I have so many NEW apps that
I have installed (had problems w/ setting up) and I have to decide
how I want to approach this - now that I'm going to loose all those
hard-head-acks of trying to get those other apps working. Oh well...

I do hope what you said about the enhancements will add increase
in my cpu, etc., etc.

However, I didn't recive any disks w/ drivers, and since the XP didn't
come w/ any drivers, how's windows 98 going to know about those
enhancements for the boost and things??? ...beging that XP didn't
exists back in 98???

-vhelp

PS: if I'm on Morpheous, and I want others to D/L a file from me,
do I have to set something up with them or do I give the name of
the file (a clip) or do they just do a search for a clip and if Morpheous
knows of my clip, it will add it to it's internal master list?? Or anyone
with Morpheous experience. NOTE: I did have a few people from other
places D/L some of my clips (at 3k to 8k) on my 56k - go figure. Later.
NOTE: and just for you info, I start all my clips with
a "vhelp-" staring first in them all now. ...if that helps
in searching.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: vhelp on 2001-12-28 18:11:50 ]</font>

[Sefy]

The Enhancment is basicly the SSE instructions, I think there is a FAQ on AMD's webpage regarding this, I know I read about it somewhere, i'm just too old to remember where it was

Basicly If Windows during installation doesn't detect the SSE, it does not include important DLL files and optimized files for that specific instruction, which is basicly one of the main CPU features important for performance increase in Windows98.

I believe with Windows2000 there shouldn't be too much problem.