General Motherboard Questions

[Zacko10000]

I recently bought some really cheap PC Chips or Alton (are they the same company, I checked both sites and they both have an M747 with same specs, updates) AT BX Slot 1 Motherboard off ebay (I got it for $45 after shipping, brand new), it is the M747. It says it can handle P2 CPUs 233-450 and Celerons up to 300 Mhz. Why can't it handle the faster Celerons? If I buy a PPGA adapter can I put in say a Celeron 366? Is it just an old BIOS, I know I can get a flash update, will that make a difference? Thanks

PS Anyone have one of these? Are they any good?

[Mntsnow]

Zack,

The reason that that board is listed as only supporting up to the celeron 300 is that it only has multipliers up to 4.5. The celeron runs on the 66mhz buss so 4.5x66=300mhz. the PII chips normally run on the 100mhz buss so 4.5x100=450mhz. I have never checked into it but maybe some of the celeron chips are multiplier "remaped" if so then you might beable to use a higher clock speed celeron.

Mntsnow

[BMF]

I have that board (the M747). It's a very stable board, but I wouldn't say that it's a good board. It's terrible for overclocking, and I don't usually like onboard sound and video, it's just more of a hassle to upgrade. The price was right tho. My new motherboard (abit BH6) is being delivered as I write this message, and I can't wait to replace my M747.

[Peter M]

Hi!

The multiplier issue doesn't exist with Celerons (or later PII/PIII for that matter). They don't care about the multiplier jumpers (or jumper-free software settings) from the mainboard - THEY HAVE THEIR MULTIPLIERS FIXED INTERNALLY, as we all know.

As the Celeron didn't really change since the 300A came up, you're on the safe side with a BIOS that claims to support at least that 300A. The worst that would happen is that the frequency display at bootup is incorrect (while the actual frequency will still be correct "thanks" to the fixed multiplier!).

For the M747, pay ftp.pcchips.com.tw/BIOS/M747 a visit (once they are back online), and get the latest BIOS for your board revision. Later revisions even have strong enough power supply to support PIII-550.

Regards, Peter