Chipset440BX

  • Thread starter Thread starter mara
  • Start date Start date
M

mara

Hi,
I have a question. Where can I can find something about 440BX Chipset
(Comparison FSB and PCI bus speed for this chipset and next).
Thanks
 
mara said:
Hi,
I have a question. Where can I can find something about 440BX Chipset
(Comparison FSB and PCI bus speed for this chipset and next).
Thanks
Click to expand...

As the other poster said (Intel's site), but the quick info is rather
simple, as this chipset was common place for a long time.

Officially, the 440BX is:

-100MHz bus (this is back in the days when they were not doubled or
quadrupled and given cute little nicknames like 1066MHz, when they are
really running at 266)
-SDRAM (due to 100MHz bus, this would be PC100; PC133 can be used, but at
PC100 speed, thus offering no performance gain or loss)
-PCI bus, eh? Ahm, they are all standardized at this point to 32-bit, 33MHz.
It didn't support 64-bit PCI, or 66MHz PCI, or slots that have both.

It is popular for overclocking, especially when later on, board makers
allowed 133MHz bus speeds, which did work, by introducing new AGP and PCI
clock dividers. Instead of having a 3x divider on PCI, and 1.5x divider on
AGP, they allowed a 4x divider on PCI, and a 2x divider on AGP, thus, at
133MHz FSB you keep the AGP and PCI bus at 66, and 33, respectivley, instead
of 89MHz AGP and 44MHz PCI, something no devices should handle safely. This
is only on later chipsets, generally on board whose BIOS support Coppermine
nativley, as the 133MHz bus came out. The 100MHz parts were continued in
Socket 370 form, and some rare ones in Slot 1 form (where the chipset is
from; Socket 370 CPUs can be used via so-called "slockets").

Point being, that if you have a 440BX, you can upgrade it with some
Powerleap adapters. http://www.powerleap.com/PL-iP3T.html has some things
you can buy, depending on if you have a 100MHz bus or 133MHz bus capability.
As you see, for a 100MHz bus, a 1.4GHz Celeron is available, or a 1GHz P3.
For 133MHz, you can get a 1.4GHz P3, the fastest offered in Socket 370 form.
*Anything over 1GHz is a Tualatin core, thus, completly incompatible with
previous socket 370 boards and adapters, meaning you need one of these for a
Slot1 system, something else (I believe it is a i370/T or something like
that) for a socket 370 board, or a new board to run a Tualatin.*
 
As the other poster said (Intel's site), but the quick info is rather
simple, as this chipset was common place for a long time.

Officially, the 440BX is:

-100MHz bus (this is back in the days when they were not doubled or
quadrupled and given cute little nicknames like 1066MHz, when they are
really running at 266)
-SDRAM (due to 100MHz bus, this would be PC100; PC133 can be used, but at
PC100 speed, thus offering no performance gain or loss)
-PCI bus, eh? Ahm, they are all standardized at this point to 32-bit, 33MHz.
It didn't support 64-bit PCI, or 66MHz PCI, or slots that have both.
Click to expand...

So far so good.
It is popular for overclocking, especially when later on, board makers
allowed 133MHz bus speeds, which did work, by introducing new AGP and PCI
clock dividers. Instead of having a 3x divider on PCI, and 1.5x divider on
AGP, they allowed a 4x divider on PCI, and a 2x divider on AGP, thus, at
133MHz FSB you keep the AGP and PCI bus at 66, and 33, respectivley, instead
of 89MHz AGP and 44MHz PCI, something no devices should handle safely. This
is only on later chipsets, generally on board whose BIOS support Coppermine
nativley, as the 133MHz bus came out. The 100MHz parts were continued in
Socket 370 form, and some rare ones in Slot 1 form (where the chipset is
from; Socket 370 CPUs can be used via so-called "slockets").
Click to expand...

Well, no. If you run a 440BX with the FSB at 133, from first production Si
through the EOL units the AGP runs at 89mhz and the PCI runs at 33mhz. And
while nearly all of the 440BX Taiwanese motherboards supported 133mhz fsb -
with the above noted clock behavior - the 440BX was never officially supported
by Intel for 133mhz fsb operation - because of that AGP clock problem.

/daytripper
 
daytripper wrote:

.................... the AGP runs at 89mhz and the PCI runs at 33mhz. And
while nearly all of the 440BX Taiwanese motherboards supported 133mhz fsb -
with the above noted clock behavior - the 440BX was never officially supported
by Intel for 133mhz fsb operation - because of that AGP clock problem.
Click to expand...

....which is no real problem with very many AGP cards (nVidia, Matrox...).

Roy
 
Back
Top