AMD XP read as MP?

Earlier this year I bought a Tyan Tiger Mp Board (S2460) and a AMD XP 1900+ to put in it. I ordered the board and the CPU from the same place(MicroPro.com) as a kit so they put the chip in the board and the heatsink on. When I booted up the first time the BIOs and the System Propeties(XP Pro) both said that a 1900+ MP chip was installed. My question is: is there any way to tell exactly what kind of chip is intalled on my board without removing the heatsink? Is it just that the L5 bridge is still intact or did I get lucky and get a MP for the price of an XP (wishful thinking)? Sometime soon I'd like to add the second processor and would like to buy the same thing that is in there to reduce compatibility issues. Thanks for all the help you guys have provided for us not-so-computer-genius-people.
Mike Myers

XP with a bridged L5.

Either way it goes, they're identical chips in almost every respect...except the MP is multiplier unlocked by default.

download sisoft sandra or wcpuID, both will tell you wether its an XP or MP..

Try to chage the multi, if it works then its an MP

I may be wrong but I think all early XP 1900 + chips have the L5 connected.If it is the early model like the 2 I just recieved you have an XP that is MP enabled.

The best way to know for sure will be to remove the heat sink and or install a second XP 1900 that is moded or a factory chip with the L5 connected.

I personally remove my heat sink every 90 days or so and clean her up well to ensure the fins dont have dust buried in them...So taking off the heat sink to look may also give ya time to do a good cleaning of your hardware.

I used wcpuID and it said that I have an MP intalled. But the changing the multiplier would tell me for sure, but one problem, I have no clue how to do this. On the ScreenSavers a while ago they had a few shows about overclocking and they did it through the BIOs. I've been through my BIOs backwards and fowards and there is nothing about changing the multplier. Any ideas as to where to go now?

As for removing the heat sink I have no idea how to do that either, if somone could push me in the direction of some info on how to I'd be very appreciateive.

Thanks for all the help so few.
Mike Myers

Well my early XP1900 had the L5 connected up ,my newer one doesn't so i do think that early XP1900 have the L5 connected

Wcupid is not the going going to tell the difference from XP to MP on early production XP chips.I am almost certain all XP will show as MP.

Removal of the heat sink is easy but reinstlation can be tricky and you can damage the processors core.

Almost all heat sinks have instructions for heat sink removal and instalation.I dont have a link to help you I will look though..

That motherboard doesn't allow you to change the multipliers.

The best way to see if you have an MP or XP would be look at the die itself and read the code off of it or just look at the L5 bridges. If you have an XP, which you probably do, you can always buy another XP and connect the L5 bridges on both of them.

MP L5 bridges look like this

|::|

XP L5 bridges look like this

|:::



to make an XP be read as an MP, all you have to do is connect that one L5 bridge that is not connected like MP's are.

The ONLY way to know if it's an XP or MP is to look at the CPU. I have a DUAL XP1900 and on power up, they are identified as MP's, not XP's. I connected no bridges and made no mods.

If I OC the FSB, the chips may then get IDed as MP 2000, 2100, or 2200 (the highest I could POST at), depending on how much the FSB was running at. At 143 FSB, I get something unusual: it tells me the clock freq instead of the PC rating. I imagine this will happen at other settings too, but this is the only time I noticed it.

Apparently the BIOS figures out that at a given clock rate, the chip should be a particular PC rating, and 1714 doesn't correspond to anything it knows. Note that I didn't change the multiplier, because I can't do that with this board. I am sure the CPUs could go faster, and that my 762 NB is what's holding me back.

WCPUID won't tell you what CPU you have. At most it reports what BIOS tells it (in my experience) and the current clocks you're set at. Sandra does the same, so it won't tell you either.

I hate to sound like a nay-sayer to a newby, but if you don't know that much about putting computers together, you really don't want to go cracking the case open and learning by breaking stuff. Most modern heat sinks are a little tricky and a simple slip up can result in a destroyed motherboard or CPU. Even the experts screw it up occasionally. Rest assured that no one is going to accidentally give you something worth more than what you paid for, and that you have an XP.

If some one does post instructions for how to do this operation, they will hopefully also have some useful pictures and diagrams so that you know exactly what you're doing before you try to do it. And none of us are going to take any responsibility if you break your equipment. Any tech worth his salt will ask for help when he's dealing with something he doesn't fully understand or a task he isn't confident he can undertake.

I'm not saying all this to scare you away from learning how to do this stuff, I'm just saying that if you can get some one to come and show you what's going on when you don't know something, that that is a better idea than breaking something (unless you can easily afford to break it, then go right ahead!).

Honestly the only way to know, with these older XP's is to look on the die itself.

although i must ask, Mike, is it just a coincidence or are you the comedian?