Another stupid question!.....

[devildog4]

I've got alot of advice from this forum and need some more. I fried my last CPU and just got my AMD K6 III 450, it works fine at 6 X 75 and I don't plan on trying to overclock it. My question is...

Is physically changing the CPU all I need to do? I dont have to update the bios again or anything else? This may seem like a silly question, but for those of us that are just learning, it needs to be asked...
thanks

Happy Holidaze...

[r22coolguy]

devildog4,
No you don't have to reflash the bios or anything. If I remember right the last CPU fried due to an over-voltage issue and not an over-clock issue. I think you will be happy at 6x75. There are definite stability issues at 83.3 mhz. Not just because of the clocking of the PCI bus, but also because it is running flat out, voltage becomes more touchy. Unless you get one of those Super socket 7 boards that support bus speeds of 100 mhz, I'd leave it at your present speed. Add memory a good sound card and PCI video and you should have a good durable machine for most uses. Just make sure of your voltage settings, you don't want to go thru another CPU :dD

[timmy]

devildog:

I hate to oughtright disagree with another board member (coolguy), but I have corresponded with a number of folks who have not been successful in their upgrade to a K6 2 or 3 without flashing to the latest BIOS. If you check on the M571 Page, on the BIOS flashing page (http://www.m571.com/m571/biosupdates.htm), at the bottom you will see that various updates to the M571 BIOS were done to adapt the board to new processors. From the notes, you can clearly see that the BIOS was not orginally set up to work with newer Socket 7 processors. In fact, lack of BIOS support is what keeps the K6 2+ and 3+ cpus from working. My personal experience is limited here, since I upgraded both of my boards before trying to use my K6 3s. I cannot recall at all what folks were running who had problems, but I do know that the rev. level of the BIOS WAS a problem with some folks upgrading.

Suggest you give it a try first. But recall that there are other compelling reasons for a flash, not the least of which is proper USB support, not to mention the 8.4 GB barrier and the spin down issue, if any of those apply to what you are doing.

[alex zorrilla]

Or better yet, which BIOS version are you running right now? It could be that both Timmy and r22coolguy are right. You do need BIOS suuport for the CPU to run correctly, but if you already have the proper BIOS, there is no need to update it again.

--Alex

[r22coolguy]

Hey wait,
In my own defense I totally agree with Timmy about BIOS versions. However, and I may be wrong but this is a continuation of a thread were devildog4 did upgrade his BIOS but when installing the K6-III set the wrong voltage and fried it. So, based on that info and the fact that he states in his question that he doesn't have to update his BIOS again. I took that to mean that it is already current from his first attempt. If I'm wrong, then yes upgrade first and then install the CPU with the correct voltage settings.
And, then set it to 6x75 with a good sound card and video card and you'll have a good machine.

[devildog4]

I'ts running fine at 6 X 75, I have the latest bios from Timmy's site for the 3.2a, found and installed the voodoo3 3000 PCI card, got an old soundblaster 16, increased the RAM and off I go....

now if only I can get a 7200 HD...


(and BTW, my old Cyrix 333 does not even come close to this K6 III 450!)

[OkcFloater]

Feel fortunate your's had a 333 Cyrix. The M571 I adopted still has the Cyrix PR266 in it. But just wait! BWAHahahahahahhh......I'll create a monster!

[timmy]

Coolguy:

I have naturally displayed the attributes of one who is sleeping while most of the conversation was going on, awaking just in time to insert my foot in my mouth at your expense. My apologies for blundering about and leaving the mess at your door.

It was obvious you had his situation well in hand before I came along and muddied up the waters.

Again, please accept my apologies. I will try to guard against it in the future, but being the dolt that I am, I wouldn't want to guarantee it.

As they say, you just can't get good help nowadays.