Norm Dresner said:
And
AHA! So if I set the board for 100 MHz FSB and put an 800 MHz CPU on
it it would run at 800 MHz. The lower FSB is 66 MHz which would get me a
tad over 500 MHz for the processor. Not what I'd ideally want, but it sure
beats the Socket 7 board with the 233 Mhz MMX I have running in the box now.
It would seem then that the proper course of action is pay the extra
money to get a real 700 MHz CPU which I can run with a 100 MHz FSB.
Thanks for the education.
Norm
The thing you have to be careful about is not just 1 thing, there are many
things involved in upgrading to a P3.
First, yes, the multipliers are locked, so it doesn't matter what the manual
says it supports, as long as it supports the proper bus speed.
Secondly, the board must be able to run a Coppermine CPU. You won't get a
board to run a Tualatin unless it was specifically made to do so, or unless
you are using a Poweleap adapter (which has its own set of power regulators,
AFAIK).
Third, the power draw must be able to be withstood by the board. If an 800
takes 70W, and your board can only do 65W, you're out of luck. (These
numbers are completly ficticious, BTW).
So, really, as long as your BIOS supports Coppermine, has the 100MHz bus,
can do the voltage of the CPU, and can give it enough current to support it,
then you shouldn't have any problems with an 800MHz.
Underclocking would be strange to do on an Intel, as you'd end up running an
87.5MHz bus, which is likely to throw off your AGP, and PCI speeds, thereby
making it even more risky.
At the very least, it's a good thing you did ask and not go it alone.