Prescott/Celeron D support, socket 478 boards, making it work?

Hi Folks,

I'm wondering if it's possible to use a Celeron D on a board that doesn't specifically support it. I know for instance, that there were ways and means to get tualatins working on coppermine boards, thoroughbreds working on early socket A boards, K6-2s working on K6 non-super 7 boards, etc etc, when the manufacturer would not specifically state they were supported. I've done those things.

I don't care about correct recognition at POST as long as it works.

However, in some of these cases, BIOS support for new cores was essential on some boards otherwise they wouldn't POST the new chip. But in other cases, if it at least supported the previous core, all was fine and dandy.

The board I have has the VIA DDR chipset, and other boards with this chipset are known to support celeron D. Therefore if essential, I can find a donor BIOS that I could pull the microcode out of and transplant it.

So, what do I need to know to get a pressy based CPU working in an older board? Does it just usually work, do any pins need masking, are vid pin mods required if voltages don't quite match?

I am presuming some boards are not specifically prescott/Celly D rated maybe because of power issues. But, I just love to hear mosfets scream for mercy muhuhahahaaaaa I can always put some cooling on them.

So, any advice on doing this would be much appreciated.

Road Warrior

I have nothing specific that will help, but from what I've seen, it appears to be hit or miss. Even with the older mobos that will boot a Prescott, they generally don't work that well unless Prescotts are officially supported. Too bad you don't have a buddy with a Celly D that will let you try it first. I'd hate to see you buy one and find out it won't work. You are probably better off with a cheap used Northwood.