- Joined
- Dec 19, 2000
- Location
- Lawrenceville, GA
Retired Sticky
This is for all of the "Does such and such work in SMP?" questions that seemed to get answered time and time again.
Short and simple, here are the answers:
AMD MP processors were designed specifically to work in dual processing systems. They work perfectly and are supported by AMD directly.
AMD XP processors were designed specifically to work in single CPU systems, however as of now they work just fine in multiprocessing boards. The key factor in this seems to lie in the L5 bridge which must be closed in order to function in MP boards. This goes for both chips. Most XP chips, to my knowledge, maufactured prior to a couple of months ago, already had an L5 bridge that was not cut. The bridge seems to be cut more often in recently produced chips, evidently. The fix for this is as simple as unlocking the XP itself, except you only have one bridge to connect.
*UPDATE* (by cmcquistion) Newer Thoroughbred Athlon XP's are also SMP capable, provided that you close the L5 bridge, just like the Palomino's. Low speed T-breds (XP2000 and below) are factory unlocked, so you can change the multiplier up to 12.5 (the MSI K7D Master is the only duallie with multiplier control.) The XP1700 and XP2100 T-bred are the overclocking favorites, at the moment (Mar, 2003) and can have their bridges modified for hard-coding higher multipliers. (XP1700 T-breds are reaching 1800-2000 MHz. XP2100 T-breds are reaching 1900-2100 MHz)
Initial reports indicate that Bartons are compatible with the MPX chipset and are also SMP capable. (It has now been verified that Bartons will run on the Iwill MPX2 and the MSI K7D Master.) Please note that Bartons are manufacted to run at 166 FSB, so you will probably want to modify the multiplier on them, if you run them on a dual system with FSB below 166. The bridge codes for Bartons are identical to T-breds and those manufactured with a stock multiplier below 12.5 should be unlocked, though only on motherboards that allow multiplier change, such as the MSI K7D Master.
For information on modding the multiplier of AMD CPU's, check the thread here. I prefer the 5V PSU method, over the 9V battery method. It has worked better for me.
XPs, despite their success in the newer MPX boards, have more problems running in the older MP boards, specifically the Tyan lines. This is not the case in all Tyan MP boards, but there have been more reported problems with them than the MPX by far.
XPs are not supported by AMD in MP configurations at all.
AMD Durons are hit and miss. The misses come with the Spitfire Durons which are not supported by AMD in any sense and, as far as I know, do not work in MPX boards whatsoever. They have been known to work, on many occassions, in original MP boards (by Tyan), however. Spitfire Durons run 1GHz and below with the 1GHz Spitfires coming very rare.
Morgan Durons start at 1GHz and currently go to 1.3GHz. They work fine in all the MPX boards and don't seem to have any problems in the Tyan MP boards either. The Morgan-cored Duron was initially designed for MP use to begin with but support was ended. The design did stick and so did the process, allowing it to continue working in multiprocessor boards.
AMD does not support any Duron in MP use.
AMD Thunderbird processor are about the same as the Spitfire Durons. There was some success of them working in the Tyan MP board but as of now I have not seen a single success story of them working in an MPX board (As stated below, there have been a few successes with TBirds and the MPX, but very few...I still don't recommend it). Even though they appear to work in most cases in the Tyan MP, instability was a common occurrence and it's best to stay away from them in dual configurations. (This was a later addition as I guess there are still of you out there that wondered about the TBirds.)
AMD Thunderbirds are not supported in dual configurations by AMD.
That's basically it for AMD processors in dual configurations. Please keep in mind that just because unsupported chips are known to work with no problems in the MP and MPX boards that problems won't be there for you when using an unsupported chip. Many have found it impossible to run unsupported chips in their respective boards and could only gain use of them by switching to an AMD MP chip. Instability seems to be the most common issue but I personally think this deals more with other components that may be used.
This is for all of the "Does such and such work in SMP?" questions that seemed to get answered time and time again.
Short and simple, here are the answers:
AMD MP processors were designed specifically to work in dual processing systems. They work perfectly and are supported by AMD directly.
AMD XP processors were designed specifically to work in single CPU systems, however as of now they work just fine in multiprocessing boards. The key factor in this seems to lie in the L5 bridge which must be closed in order to function in MP boards. This goes for both chips. Most XP chips, to my knowledge, maufactured prior to a couple of months ago, already had an L5 bridge that was not cut. The bridge seems to be cut more often in recently produced chips, evidently. The fix for this is as simple as unlocking the XP itself, except you only have one bridge to connect.
*UPDATE* (by cmcquistion) Newer Thoroughbred Athlon XP's are also SMP capable, provided that you close the L5 bridge, just like the Palomino's. Low speed T-breds (XP2000 and below) are factory unlocked, so you can change the multiplier up to 12.5 (the MSI K7D Master is the only duallie with multiplier control.) The XP1700 and XP2100 T-bred are the overclocking favorites, at the moment (Mar, 2003) and can have their bridges modified for hard-coding higher multipliers. (XP1700 T-breds are reaching 1800-2000 MHz. XP2100 T-breds are reaching 1900-2100 MHz)
Initial reports indicate that Bartons are compatible with the MPX chipset and are also SMP capable. (It has now been verified that Bartons will run on the Iwill MPX2 and the MSI K7D Master.) Please note that Bartons are manufacted to run at 166 FSB, so you will probably want to modify the multiplier on them, if you run them on a dual system with FSB below 166. The bridge codes for Bartons are identical to T-breds and those manufactured with a stock multiplier below 12.5 should be unlocked, though only on motherboards that allow multiplier change, such as the MSI K7D Master.
For information on modding the multiplier of AMD CPU's, check the thread here. I prefer the 5V PSU method, over the 9V battery method. It has worked better for me.
XPs, despite their success in the newer MPX boards, have more problems running in the older MP boards, specifically the Tyan lines. This is not the case in all Tyan MP boards, but there have been more reported problems with them than the MPX by far.
XPs are not supported by AMD in MP configurations at all.
AMD Durons are hit and miss. The misses come with the Spitfire Durons which are not supported by AMD in any sense and, as far as I know, do not work in MPX boards whatsoever. They have been known to work, on many occassions, in original MP boards (by Tyan), however. Spitfire Durons run 1GHz and below with the 1GHz Spitfires coming very rare.
Morgan Durons start at 1GHz and currently go to 1.3GHz. They work fine in all the MPX boards and don't seem to have any problems in the Tyan MP boards either. The Morgan-cored Duron was initially designed for MP use to begin with but support was ended. The design did stick and so did the process, allowing it to continue working in multiprocessor boards.
AMD does not support any Duron in MP use.
AMD Thunderbird processor are about the same as the Spitfire Durons. There was some success of them working in the Tyan MP board but as of now I have not seen a single success story of them working in an MPX board (As stated below, there have been a few successes with TBirds and the MPX, but very few...I still don't recommend it). Even though they appear to work in most cases in the Tyan MP, instability was a common occurrence and it's best to stay away from them in dual configurations. (This was a later addition as I guess there are still of you out there that wondered about the TBirds.)
AMD Thunderbirds are not supported in dual configurations by AMD.
That's basically it for AMD processors in dual configurations. Please keep in mind that just because unsupported chips are known to work with no problems in the MP and MPX boards that problems won't be there for you when using an unsupported chip. Many have found it impossible to run unsupported chips in their respective boards and could only gain use of them by switching to an AMD MP chip. Instability seems to be the most common issue but I personally think this deals more with other components that may be used.
Last edited by a moderator:
