Best Processor for me?

[Daniel Cocker]

I have a Cyrix MII-300 processor installed. I know it runs at something like 233Mhz, and the benchmarks in SANDRA really showed me how slow this is.What's the fastest processor for my Packard Bell Mediatrainer2 mobo with a maximum 75Mhz bus? The manual says it supports AMD K6 processors, so could I upgrade to a K6-2 300+Mhz?

[Daniel Cocker]

P.S. I can't oc, the fan can't take it.

[cobain1crt]

Go for the K6/2 300, one of the new ones, it should go to 450.

[Daniel Cocker]

Thanx, I have seen a K6-2 300 advertised to run at a 66Mhz bus speed, but my online manual says I should only go up to 300Mhz- no overclocking.

[CMonster]

If your motherboard has 2.2 - 2.4 CPU core voltage options then get a K6-2 400 for around $89 and run it at the 2x multiplier which has been remapped to run the chip at 6x which will give you 400mhz (6X66=396) and you will be surprized how much performance you can ge out of your board.

Double check first that your board can support the K6-2, you may need a BIOS update and if you are not currently running Windows98 then you will also need the K6-2 350 patch for Win95.

[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 06-20-99).]

[Daniel Cocker]

Thanx guys, that helps, but there's a problem with your suggestion, Cmonster. AMD only sell the K6-2 400 in a 100Mhz bus speed. The closest in a 66Mhz bus speed is the K6-2 366. If I get this, what voltage should I set it at? I know the mobo supports the K6-2, as I have just been to the biostar website( my mobo is a biostar M5SIB)but what BIOS do I need?It is an Award BIOS v4.51, and the BIOS version number is stated as v1.05. I have Win98.

[This message has been edited by Daniel Cocker (edited 06-20-99).]

[This message has been edited by Daniel Cocker (edited 06-20-99).]

[Daniel Cocker]

Oh, and my mobo has 2.1v to 3.5v core voltage jumpers, and another set of bus frequency jumpers that start at 1.5/3.5(for a Pentium 233MMX)and go upto 4.5. Which set of jumpers do I set at 2??

[CMonster]

Daniel,

The K6-2 400 will run at any lower bus speed as well, as I'm sure many will be willing to testify here, that is why AMD remapped the 2X multiplier so that it would myltiply the bus speed 6 times, i.e. 6x66=396 (400) and not so that the chip was intended to get to 600mhz.

As I post this reply, I am using a K6-2 300 (100mhz bus chip) on a 430TX based motherboard, running at 333mhz (5x66). The 100mhz chip is better at any bus speed. My thoughts are that AMD got a bad batch of silicon that choked on the 100mhz bus and that is how the 66mhz bus chips came about (with AMD touting them as backwards compatible).

[Daniel Cocker]

Ah, now it's all coming together.
So, let me get this straight: I buy an AMD K6-2 400. I set it at the recommended core and I/O voltage in the manual supplied with the chip. I set the bus jumpers at 66Mhz,and the freq jumpers to 2, which multiplies the 66Mhz bus frequency to 396Mhz.
Yes?
Now,perhaps my mobo manual only says that it supports 300Mhz CPU's becuase it doesn't know that the AMD chip was remapped to multiply a 66Mhz bus by 6?
Oh.
Right, do I have the correct BIOS version?
Am I making any sense?

[This message has been edited by Daniel Cocker (edited 06-20-99).]

[CMonster]

You got it! As for the BIOS, it may misidentify the chip as a "300" but it should still run at 400mhz, which you can verify using other benchmarks.

I have never tried the remapped multiplier yet, but I have the assurances of other members on this board and what I read some while ago at AMD..I am now going to shut down and swap the chip out of my K6-2 400 system and put it in this TX system and let you know if the remapped multiplier actually works -- be back shortly.

***wham-bamm!!Thank you AMD! Yep, the remapped multiplier 2x=6x worked flawlessly, my BIOS did recognize the chip as a K6-2 400, but if yours doesn't dont fret it; possibly you can flash a new BIOS, if not then it will likely still run fine, just it will display an incorrect speed during POST.

Here is the Wintune98 benchmarks: a little low, but I have exceeded 64MB of RAM and this is a 66mhz bus after all:

WinTune 98
Offline Test Results
CPU (1) AMD K6-2 with MultiMedia Extensions@401 MHz
Video Board 3D Blaster PCI
Video Mode 800x600@16bits/pixel
RAM 128 MB
OS Windows 95 4.0.1212 B

Area Tested Value
CPU Integer 618.8646 MIPS *(Sisoft Sandra showed 980 CPU MIPs)
CPU Floating Point 482.9515 MFLOPS
Video(2D) 47.45904 MPixels/s
Direct3D 80.13949 MPixels/s
OpenGL 60.09634 MPixels/s
Memory 285.078 MB/s
Cached Disk 22.05271 MB/s
Uncached Disk 2.821221 MB/s


Now to return this chip to its rightful place...





[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 06-20-99).]

[CMonster]

Daniel, just wanted to bump this up to the top again briefly so that you might see it.

[Daniel Cocker]

I have seen it. Now, is this considered o/c'ing? Cause if it is, will I have any problems with a Riva TNT card from Creative? I have just read the readme in the updated drivers file I downloaded from their website, and it says that overclocking can cause lockups in games and Windows with the TNT installed. I know the fan on the CPU can take it, as Cyrix's run real hot, and I'm not having any trouble running it smooth.

[CMonster]

Running the K6-2 400 at 2x66 to get 6x66=396mhz, because of the remapped multiplier, is not overclocking in any way, because you have not overclocked the bus speed of 66mhz, and you have not overclocked the processor; all you have done is extend the multiplier capabilities of the motherboard. However, if you are not running Windows 98, you may need to apply the "K6-2 350 patch for Win95" to your operating system, because there was a problem with Win95's timing in some algorythm when executed at above 350mhz by an AMD processor. You can get the patch at many locations on the web, or here in the downloads section cpu.simplenet.com (http://cpu.simplenet.com)




[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 06-27-99).]

[Daniel Cocker]

I'm already running Windows98, so there should be no problems, O.K.?

[Daniel Cocker]

Thanx Cmonster, you've enlightened me no end!
Seeya in the future(or a PC repair shop, depending on if we're not careful)!

[CMonster]

I wouldn't forsee any problems then.