need bios update to support cedarmill? or not?

[Dizzious]

I recently built a system for someone with a cedarmill and a 975x motherboard - they're wonderfully cool even the stock coolers are pretty quite (just because they don't have to work so hard like on the prescotts.)

anyway, do all 945P and 915P chipsets natively support cedar mill, or do i need bios updates? myself and a friend both want to get cedarmills; but don't know if our motherboards support them - and attempts to get info on the subject from our motherboard manufacturers have been 100% fruitless.

also, how about smithfield?

[Zefram]

BIOS update are meant to either stabilize or enhance the motherboard performance........

Either way, you wont lose anything if you update the motherboard BIOS...
Provided that you know how to update the BIOS :D

[therealwesty]

I suppose it would depend on the specific board. But as Zefram said if the BIOS is updated right than you aren't going to lose anything.

[-=CrAnSwIcK=-]

yeah, what westy said...it depends on the motherboard dude, depend on when it was made and whatever...some may support both out of the box some may require a BIOS update...

But why do you want a these anyway...Intel (appearantly) has something huge on the horizon, and you're building Intel rigs now??

[Dizzious]

yes. yes i am. i'm building intel rigs because AMD's single-core solutions arent as good for multitasking. conroe (this huge thing on the horizon) isnt coming out for at least 4 months; and i don't feel like waiting. i'm trying to upgrade from a couple of celerons to the cedar mill p4's here. given they're worth the 40 dollars a peice i paid for them; celeron is an extremely slow chip.
now the smithfeild; well intel's got a 2.66ghz dual-core out there that's going for like $135. the pentium D 805. oh, wait a minute; what? amd's cheapest dualcore is $300? what? what's that? STFU.

there are a few good reasons to have intel now. i didn't ask for people to question my motives for upgrading; i asked wether or not my 14 month old mobo would need updated BIOS to support a processor core that just came out this month.
if you can't give me a good answer, get the hell out of my thread.

[Skorp]

Dude, woah. Chill. Nobody is insulting your choice of CPU. While everyone here does think AMD has a better deal, they cant argue with the low-end dual core Intel prices. (We can argue whether you're getting a good chip for your money, but it is very cheap.) And yes, all of us here know that AMD is pushing it a bit with its dual core pricing. We're gonna have to wait until AM2 for such things to be truly mainstream.

Normally I wouldnt help someone with a "get the hell out of my thread" attitude, but you are asking a valid question. And as far as I know, yes, you'll need a BIOS update to support a cedar mill; I remember toms hardware having some niggles setting up such a system. Even then, it cant hurt, as i'm 99% sure you need the very latest BIOS for 65nm chips to get their power saving features to work. Without it, the enhanced halt state, speedstep, and thermal throttling features wont work on 65nm parts. (Thats why 65nm Intel chips are appearing to be hotter than they should be.)

Oh, and I really hope you arent getting a PD 805. Get an 820 by all means, but the 805 has a woefully slow FSB (667MHz). Thats 333MHz per core - less than what the Willamettes had back in the day. For any kind of serious multitasking, it really is hopeless - it turns dual core into an expensive form of Hyperthreading in terms of performance. Its okay on dragging windows about, but dont expect miracles. The 820 and above have pukka 800MHz busses which are just enough to feed a pair of angry Netbursts.

[-=CrAnSwIcK=-]

I'm pretty sure the cedar mills, that 90% of your post was about are single core...so i dunno why your bringing up an argument about why AMD dual-cores suck...i never pushed AMD on you...i was just saying, why not hold off on an upgrade when something significantly better is coming soon...

please don't come back on me like that unless you got your **** straight...

[Dizzious]

Woah. I didn't know i came off as being so pissed off.

Skorp - good point. i didnt realize they zapped the bus speed on the 805; i just checked again and it's actually only 533mhz... ew. looks like i'm going back to my original stance on dualies ("not useful enough to justify spending that much on one").
i guess i'll just stick a 630 in here and live with it until later this year. i highly doubt albatron are going to release a bios update any time soon.
anyway shortly after i originally posted my friend asked about the 805 smithfeild... guess i'll just tell him he's better off with a 630 too.

and cranswick; read what i said before you respond next time. i never said AMDs suck (who in their right mind would say that, we've all seen the benchies), their dualcores perform a little better than anything intel has on the market currently - AMD just don't have any cheap ones out.
so, right back at ya buddy, shove your double-post about something that i never said right up your ass, and YOU get YOUR **** straight.

[-=CrAnSwIcK=-]

oh, wait a minute; what? amd's cheapest dualcore is $300? what? what's that? STFU.

That whole sentence has a negative connotation...when i said suck, i meant the price...and i was wondering why you were saying that X2's are too expensive, when A) everybody knows that, and B) 90% of your original post was about single core intel CPU's...so for you, going AMD isn't even an option unless you buy new motherboards, that's obviously why no one suggested AMD, and it's curious why you even compare AMD when it's not even an ideal upgrade path...what i was originally suggesting was that you either wait for conroe...or wait for conroe and buy the D 630's when the prices drop... LGA 775 celerons aren't THAT horrible, i'm still running a northwood s478 celeron till i got my A64 rig built...it was just a suggestion, you came off on the attack man, i didn't do anything....show a little respect....

[Zefram]

Yo cranswick, just let it be, i am once a Intel Fanboy..... i know how dizzious feel :D

Neh, conroe is still basically a mystery..... i wont believe the benchmark until the retail stuff came out :p

[-=CrAnSwIcK=-]

Yo cranswick, just let it be, i am once a Intel Fanboy..... i know how dizzious feel :D

Zef, I i think you guys are missing the fact that i not once mentioned anything bout Intel being bad, or anything about AMD at all...i merely suggested waiting for new tech, or the price drop that comes with it...

[Zefram]

Zef, I i think you guys are missing the fact that i not once mentioned anything bout Intel being bad, or anything about AMD at all...i merely suggested waiting for new tech, or the price drop that comes with it...
Yeah, i noticed that, but my point is that if your advise aint getting accepted positively, then let it be...... :D

[-=CrAnSwIcK=-]

That's no problem, it's when they're rude about it...