socket A mb to work with the future chips

[camaro]

I just read on anandtech that amd will use socket A for Palomino(athlon4), Thoroughbred and Barton cores. Now obviously there will be new features available in newer mobos, but isn't that something. Maybe I can keep my asus a7v for the athlon4 at least. Since it will require even less voltage then tbird, that part should be fine. But will mobo manufacturers make their old mobos compatible with the new chips with bios upgrages and so on, or will they not support it forcing us to upgrade the mobo?

[Bovon]

If, and I say that with a great big IF...The processor stays the same, fits the socket A, voltages remain about the same, then...yes, the mobo manufacturers will update the bios if needed.

You never know what the long range plans are for the processors, til they are ready for the market...the mobo makers have been informed well in advance of course, inorder that new mobos can be designed and be 'somewhat' ready by the time the cpu is.

Back in the days of the K6-2 and K6 III series, we thought that our boards would certainly see us thru at least 700 mhz. But that quickly came to an end with the K6-2 550. The socket A and the 600 Duron Tbird was coming along, and all of the older boards became obsolete almost overnight, so far as upgrading was concerned. The Super Socket 7 boards lasted a little over two years.

Using this analogy, I suspect the socket A will be around for maybe another year...possibly two.

[NDD]

AMD plans using <u>same</u> Socket A with all it's future x86 processors, upto Barton (0.13 mm SOI). Sure, KT133 chipset won't handle 133 MHz FSB, or higher, and PowerNow! technology won't be available too, but main function will be still there. KT133A is some more promising, due to it's 133 MHz FSB support, but it will stack eventually too http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif
Yet, we have at least two years http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Best Regards ...

[camaro]

I don't feel the need at this time for 133FSB or DDR. They don't show enough gains worth buying a whole new mobo for. I read that that Palomino will be about the same size. Thoroughbred and Barton will be much smaller. At about half the size, but AMD will most likely fill up the space with more cache or somekind of fast memory to speed up performance. From what I've read Palomino is not worth getting a new mobo for. Just like upgrading to 133FSB and DDR are a waste of money at this time. Once they ramp up the FSB to 200 or beyond and DDR becomes faster, then I'll probably upgrade. There are too many little steps here. That's my opinion. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by camaro (edited 05-15-2001).]