K7VZA and Athlon XP 2600 upgrade

I'm thinking of upgrading from a 1.2gig Athlon to the Athlon XP 2600.
Is this the fastest processor the K7VZA motherboard will support? And
I wonder if anyone here has done a similar upgrade and can comment on
the performance improvement?

Not gonna happen. If you had the right K7VZA you might be able to use the
palomino cores like the 1600+, but not the tbred or barton
cores like you 2600. Time to retire that old motherboard.

swingman () wrote:
: I'm thinking of upgrading from a 1.2gig Athlon to the Athlon XP 2600.
: Is this the fastest processor the K7VZA motherboard will support? And
: I wonder if anyone here has done a similar upgrade and can comment on
: the performance improvement?

Depends on the board revision. Rev. 1 boards support only 100 mhz. FSB
processors, but Rev 3.0 boards will support up to 2600 Palomino with the rev
3.7 BIOS, assuming you can find one somewhere. You may also run into memory
and/or PSU issues by upgrading. Probably not worth the bother unless you
like a challenge .......

"Brian Campbell" <> wrote in message
news:cluml4$hkp$...
> Not gonna happen. If you had the right K7VZA you might be able to use the
> palomino cores like the 1600+, but not the tbred or barton
> cores like you 2600. Time to retire that old motherboard.
>
> swingman () wrote:
> : I'm thinking of upgrading from a 1.2gig Athlon to the Athlon XP 2600.
> : Is this the fastest processor the K7VZA motherboard will support? And
> : I wonder if anyone here has done a similar upgrade and can comment on
> : the performance improvement?

Thanks for the replies. I have a "rev 3" board currently running the 3.4 bios (easy enough to flash to v3.7). I already run the memory bus at 133mz and the power supply has been upgraded to 450w. Under these conditions is it reasonable to expect the chip to "plug and play"?

I understand that there are two versions of the Athlon XP 2600 - Palomino and Thoroughbred. Is that correct? Do these run at different voltages or bus speeds? Both versions are currently available on the Web. TIA



"Mr. Slow" <> wrote in message news:clvso2$o1i$...
> Depends on the board revision. Rev. 1 boards support only 100 mhz. FSB
> processors, but Rev 3.0 boards will support up to 2600 Palomino with the rev
> 3.7 BIOS, assuming you can find one somewhere. You may also run into memory
> and/or PSU issues by upgrading. Probably not worth the bother unless you
> like a challenge .......
>
> "Brian Campbell" <> wrote in message
> news:cluml4$hkp$...
>> Not gonna happen. If you had the right K7VZA you might be able to use the
>> palomino cores like the 1600+, but not the tbred or barton
>> cores like you 2600. Time to retire that old motherboard.
>>
>> swingman () wrote:
>> : I'm thinking of upgrading from a 1.2gig Athlon to the Athlon XP 2600.
>> : Is this the fastest processor the K7VZA motherboard will support? And
>> : I wonder if anyone here has done a similar upgrade and can comment on
>> : the performance improvement?
>
>

"swingman" <> wrote in message
news:...
Thanks for the replies. I have a "rev 3" board currently running the 3.4
bios (easy enough to flash to v3.7). I already run the memory bus at 133mz
and the power supply has been upgraded to 450w. Under these conditions is
it reasonable to expect the chip to "plug and play"?

Possibly. Probably.

I understand that there are two versions of the Athlon XP 2600 - Palomino
and Thoroughbred. Is that correct?

Yes.

Do these run at different voltages or bus speeds? Both versions are
currently available on the Web. TIA

Palominos SHOULD work, full stop. I'm not sure about Thorobreds at all, this
board is seriously pre-Thorobred, but 333 mhz Thorobreds are a definite no,
you will need to find a 133/266 CPU to stand a chance, Palomino to be sure.


--
Remove ".invalid" and replace with ".co.uk" to reply by e mail



"Mr. Slow" <> wrote in message
news:clvso2$o1i$...
> Depends on the board revision. Rev. 1 boards support only 100 mhz. FSB
> processors, but Rev 3.0 boards will support up to 2600 Palomino with the
rev
> 3.7 BIOS, assuming you can find one somewhere. You may also run into
memory
> and/or PSU issues by upgrading. Probably not worth the bother unless you
> like a challenge .......
>
> "Brian Campbell" <> wrote in message
> news:cluml4$hkp$...
>> Not gonna happen. If you had the right K7VZA you might be able to use
the
>> palomino cores like the 1600+, but not the tbred or barton
>> cores like you 2600. Time to retire that old motherboard.
>>
>> swingman () wrote:
>> : I'm thinking of upgrading from a 1.2gig Athlon to the Athlon XP 2600.
>> : Is this the fastest processor the K7VZA motherboard will support? And
>> : I wonder if anyone here has done a similar upgrade and can comment on
>> : the performance improvement?
>
>

"Mr. Slow" <>
wrote in message news:cm0qb0$p6f$...
>
> "swingman" <> wrote in
> message
> news:...
> Thanks for the replies. I have a "rev 3" board currently
> running the 3.4
> bios (easy enough to flash to v3.7). I already run the
> memory bus at 133mz
> and the power supply has been upgraded to 450w. Under
> these conditions is
> it reasonable to expect the chip to "plug and play"?
>
> Possibly. Probably.
>
> I understand that there are two versions of the Athlon XP
> 2600 - Palomino
> and Thoroughbred. Is that correct?
>
> Yes.
>
> Do these run at different voltages or bus speeds? Both
> versions are
> currently available on the Web. TIA
>
> Palominos SHOULD work, full stop. I'm not sure about
> Thorobreds at all, this
> board is seriously pre-Thorobred, but 333 mhz Thorobreds
> are a definite no,
> you will need to find a 133/266 CPU to stand a chance,
> Palomino to be sure.

Thanks again!

swingman <> wrote:
> I'm thinking of upgrading from a 1.2gig Athlon to the Athlon XP 2600.
> Is this the fastest processor the K7VZA motherboard will support? And
> I wonder if anyone here has done a similar upgrade and can comment on
> the performance improvement?

I was in the same situation and did some investigation. I have a K7VZA
Rev 3.0 and thought it would work with an XP 1600+ i just got for little
money, but it didn't work... The reason is, you not only need the Rev
3.0 version of this board, it has to be produced at week 40 or later
otherwise your chances to run an XP will be bad!

You can take a look at the serial No. to find out from which week your
board is, you find this number near the parallel port, the numbers at
position 6,7 and 8 have to be greater or equal than 140
E.g. my serial No.:

987WE11403525 so the relevant number in my case is "114" which means my
K7VZA 3.0 won't run my XP 1600+ and actually it doesn't. I'm now going
to buy an K7S5A Pro Ver 5.0 so I can keep my PC-133 SDRAM.

But maybe you're lucky and it will work... I just said this so you're
not too disappointed or feel helpless if it won't work ;-) If you have
PC-133 SDRAM you don't want to throw away, maybe do the same and get a
K7S5A Pro Rev 5 if your K7VZA won't take the XP.

This tiny thing decides if a K7VZA 3.0 takes the XP, I guess many owners
of that board have spent sleepless nights wondering why their new XP
doesn't work with it...

Malte

PS, look at the bottom of http://www.ecsusa.com/support/table_amd.html

Malte Gell wrote:
> swingman <> wrote:
>> I'm thinking of upgrading from a 1.2gig Athlon to the Athlon XP 2600.
>> Is this the fastest processor the K7VZA motherboard will support?
>> And I wonder if anyone here has done a similar upgrade and can
>> comment on the performance improvement?
>
> I was in the same situation and did some investigation. I have a K7VZA
> Rev 3.0 and thought it would work with an XP 1600+ i just got for
> little money, but it didn't work... The reason is, you not only need
> the Rev
> 3.0 version of this board, it has to be produced at week 40 or later
> otherwise your chances to run an XP will be bad!
>
> You can take a look at the serial No. to find out from which week your
> board is, you find this number near the parallel port, the numbers at
> position 6,7 and 8 have to be greater or equal than 140
> E.g. my serial No.:
>
> 987WE11403525 so the relevant number in my case is "114" which means
> my K7VZA 3.0 won't run my XP 1600+ and actually it doesn't. I'm now
> going to buy an K7S5A Pro Ver 5.0 so I can keep my PC-133 SDRAM.
>
> But maybe you're lucky and it will work... I just said this so you're
> not too disappointed or feel helpless if it won't work ;-) If you have
> PC-133 SDRAM you don't want to throw away, maybe do the same and get a
> K7S5A Pro Rev 5 if your K7VZA won't take the XP.
>
> This tiny thing decides if a K7VZA 3.0 takes the XP, I guess many
> owners of that board have spent sleepless nights wondering why their
> new XP doesn't work with it...
>
> Malte
>
> PS, look at the bottom of http://www.ecsusa.com/support/table_amd.html

This is good advice. I had forgotten all about the week 40 limitation, but
at least it ought to be possible to make a judgement as to whether the board
will work with XP2600.

MS

Thanks for this information. I think the serial number is
the one on the barcode on top of the parallel port, yes? My
number is 987NE11905062. Since my key numbers are 119 this
would suggest that the Athlon XP won't run. Is that
correct?

A few new questions:

1) What is the fastest Athlon that will run in this board?

2) I would like to keep my PC113 ram. Can you recommend
motherboards in addition to the K7S5A that use PC133 ram and
support the Athlon XP?

3) When I ran Windows 98 I could change motherboards and the
OS would detect the new hardware. Can Windows XP do this or
do I need to reinstall it?

TIA


> I was in the same situation and did some investigation. I
> have a K7VZA
> Rev 3.0 and thought it would work with an XP 1600+ i just
> got for little
> money, but it didn't work... The reason is, you not only
> need the Rev
> 3.0 version of this board, it has to be produced at week
> 40 or later
> otherwise your chances to run an XP will be bad!
>
> You can take a look at the serial No. to find out from
> which week your
> board is, you find this number near the parallel port, the
> numbers at
> position 6,7 and 8 have to be greater or equal than 140
> E.g. my serial No.:
>
> 987WE11403525 so the relevant number in my case is "114"
> which means my
> K7VZA 3.0 won't run my XP 1600+ and actually it doesn't.
> I'm now going
> to buy an K7S5A Pro Ver 5.0 so I can keep my PC-133 SDRAM.
>
> But maybe you're lucky and it will work... I just said
> this so you're
> not too disappointed or feel helpless if it won't work ;-)
> If you have
> PC-133 SDRAM you don't want to throw away, maybe do the
> same and get a
> K7S5A Pro Rev 5 if your K7VZA won't take the XP.
>
> This tiny thing decides if a K7VZA 3.0 takes the XP, I
> guess many owners
> of that board have spent sleepless nights wondering why
> their new XP
> doesn't work with it...
>
> Malte
>
> PS, look at the bottom of
> http://www.ecsusa.com/support/table_amd.html
>

Thanks for this information. I think the serial number is
the one on the barcode on top of the parallel port, yes? My
number is 987NE11905062. Since my key numbers are 119 this
would suggest that the Athlon XP won't run. Is that
correct?

A few new questions:

1) What is the fastest Athlon that will run in this board?

2) I would like to keep my PC113 ram. Can you recommend
motherboards in addition to the K7S5A that use PC133 ram and
support the Athlon XP?

3) When I ran Windows 98 I could change motherboards and the
OS would detect the new hardware. Can Windows XP do this or
do I need to reinstall it?

TIA



> I was in the same situation and did some investigation. I have a K7VZA
> Rev 3.0 and thought it would work with an XP 1600+ i just got for little
> money, but it didn't work... The reason is, you not only need the Rev
> 3.0 version of this board, it has to be produced at week 40 or later
> otherwise your chances to run an XP will be bad!
>
> You can take a look at the serial No. to find out from which week your
> board is, you find this number near the parallel port, the numbers at
> position 6,7 and 8 have to be greater or equal than 140
> E.g. my serial No.:
>
> 987WE11403525 so the relevant number in my case is "114" which means my
> K7VZA 3.0 won't run my XP 1600+ and actually it doesn't. I'm now going
> to buy an K7S5A Pro Ver 5.0 so I can keep my PC-133 SDRAM.
>
> But maybe you're lucky and it will work... I just said this so you're
> not too disappointed or feel helpless if it won't work ;-) If you have
> PC-133 SDRAM you don't want to throw away, maybe do the same and get a
> K7S5A Pro Rev 5 if your K7VZA won't take the XP.
>
> This tiny thing decides if a K7VZA 3.0 takes the XP, I guess many owners
> of that board have spent sleepless nights wondering why their new XP
> doesn't work with it...
>
> Malte
>
> PS, look at the bottom of http://www.ecsusa.com/support/table_amd.html