ASUS P5WD2-E Premium and bios 401, Conroe support??

[Bao01]

According to this guy, bios 401 lowered minimum voltage from 1.3v to 1.1875.

The Asus website has not updated CPU support for bios 401. So, one can't be sure if this bios supports Conroe since Conroe is not out yet.

According to Xbitlabs, Intel is dropping power consumption for C1-stepping Preslers up to the PD 950 down to 95w. Perhaps the voltage change for the Asus board is meant for these Preslers.

However, it is also likely that Asus is anticipating Conroe sampling soon and is accomodating reviewers. Common knowledge is that Conroe will probably run lower voltage than Presler. Also, considering that there is little precedence for changing voltage requirements within a core family, it's unlikely the lower voltage setting is meant for Presler.

This would indicate good news for those considering a cheap dual core upgrade with a top quality board to hold them over before Conroe or just wanting to play with the PD805.

Take it with a grain of salt.

 

[savantu]

Most likely it will support Conroe.

Conroe needs a VRM capable of supplying lower Voltage and more refined voltage and current change.

Boards made for enthusiasts already have top notch VRM ( much more capable than what Intel's definition ask for ) which should be capable to handle the new requirements.

 

[chrisf6969]

I'm crossing my fingers, thats one of the reasons that I bought 975, b/c they were saying it would support Conroe, like back in Dec.

I've got the 0403 (non-published) BIOS, anyone want to look at it with a hex editor, maybe it has "Conroe" in it somewhere.

Here's a link to it:
http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=5289857

 

[Bao01]

I've got the 0403 (non-published) BIOS, anyone want to look at it with a hex editor, maybe it has "Conroe" in it somewhere.

Here's a link to it:
http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=5289857

Wild shot in the dark. Anyway no, I looked at BIOS 401 also. Someone more sophisticated would compare the BIOS to see how the character set is mapped....unless they already know how it's encoded. Clearly, I am not the one for that job.

 

[chrisf6969]

yeah, I tried looking at it with a hex editor, to look for Pentium, Core, Conroe.... nothing...

 

[Bao01]

yeah, I tried looking at it with a hex editor, to look for Pentium, Core, Conroe.... nothing...

LOL! That's exactly what I did. All I found was INTEL,WINBOND,AMTEL, etc. These are just blurbs for flash screens and boot screens. I'd like to say this brings up good memories, but it also brings up bad ones. You know what happens when you have too much time on your hands

 

[chrisf6969]

LOL! That's exactly what I did. All I found was INTEL,WINBOND,AMTEL, etc. These are just blurbs for flash screens and boot screens. I'd like to say this brings up good memories, but it also brings up bad ones. You know what happens when you have too much time on your hands

But it should have had Pentium in there, which I didn't find.

 

[Bao01]

But it should have had Pentium in there, which I didn't find.

Oh ya! The reason is because it needs an input. If you stick a celeron in there, I am pretty sure the boot screen won't say Pentium.

 

[chrisf6969]

Oh ya! The reason is because it needs an input. If you stick a celeron in there, I am pretty sure the boot screen won't say Pentium.

So what you're saying is.... it reads the name string from the chip? And its not in the BIOS?

If that was the case, why when I'd stick a newer Pentium 3, in an old motherboard would it stay Pentium Pro ?

 

[Bao01]

So what you're saying is.... it reads the name string from the chip? And its not in the BIOS?

Not at all. The cpu name is stored as a string. It is encrypted. But, it is stored in the bios ROM and not the cpu. What tells the bios which name to use is probably the cpu id which is sent from the cpu.

If that was the case, why when I'd stick a newer Pentium 3, in an old motherboard would it stay Pentium Pro ?

In that case, the bios may have stored the cpu name as a string. It would be the only name for the cpu and just as say, the name of the bios maker "American Megatrends", there would be no other choice of what else to call it. it would have been a permanent feature on the boot screen. Then again, it may have been encrypted, too. But, how many types of slot1 cpus were there when the pentium pro came out? one.

I can imagine why they would start encrypting cpu names - to prevent shady vendors from hacking into the bios and selling celerons as PIIs in the first place or 386 as 486 or whatever.