Apart from SSE, there's no difference between a PII and a PIII (Katmai core). The BIOS may simply not know the PIII. Doesn't really matter, as it will still work without any issues.

Try running CPU-Z or another such utility. The casing on the CPU may have been exchanged or the BIOS might be misdetecting, but the CPUID as detected by software should be reliable.

The BIOS is from 10.1998, the PIII was introduced in February 1999. It can not know the PIII.

Thanks all, it seems that was it...

I will be returning it to the seller I guess.

Why? A P3-450 will work at least as well as a P2-450 in absolutely everything. Only difference is the SSE1 instructions, which are an improvement (if almost never used by period software). I have both and the only difference I notice is the cooler (the P2 has a huge passive heatsink, the P3 a noisy little fan).

The most recent BIOS update for the RC440BX board is from 2000: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/914 … -?product=50524

There's a chance you could update the BIOS to recognize the PIII before returning it.

Katmai500 wrote:

The most recent BIOS update for the RC440BX board is from 2000: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/914 … -?product=50524

There's a chance you could update the BIOS to recognize the PIII before returning it.

Ok, I could do that. But that still will not change the fact I wanted the 450 PII and this is a PIII? 😀

dionb wrote:

Why? A P3-450 will work at least as well as a P2-450 in absolutely everything. Only difference is the SSE1 instructions, which are an improvement (if almost never used by period software). I have both and the only difference I notice is the cooler (the P2 has a huge passive heatsink, the P3 a noisy little fan).

I guess just because I wanted to build one of each PI, PII, PIII machines with the actual processors

I think Katmais run hotter than Deschutes of the same frequency?

I have a 550 MHz PIII which is a little furnace. I had to remove it from one of my builds because of the heat.

Errius wrote:

I think Katmais run hotter than Deschutes of the same frequency?

I have a 550 MHz PIII which is a little furnace. I had to remove it from one of my builds because of the heat.

Hah. I understand the desire to be period correct, but even the bios sees it as P2. I'd call it good enough. 😀

You could try this:

For Intel® Processor Frequency ID Utility
Intel® Processor Frequency ID Utility Bootable version [BFID_X25.EXE]
Version: 7.2 (Latest) Date: 11/15/2004

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/308 … XE-?product=672

The PII "should" be identified as Family 6 / Model 5 and the Pentium III as Family 6 / Model 7

BinaryDemon wrote:

Errius wrote:

I think Katmais run hotter than Deschutes of the same frequency?

I have a 550 MHz PIII which is a little furnace. I had to remove it from one of my builds because of the heat.

Hah. I understand the desire to be period correct, but even the bios sees it as P2. I'd call it good enough. 😀

Yes, but *I’d* know... 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁

tomato/tomato

oeuvre wrote:

tomato/tomato

Potato/potato

oeuvre wrote:

tomato/tomato

I thought that was not a slot 1 motherboard.

stamasd wrote:

oeuvre wrote:

tomato/tomato

I thought that was not a slot 1 motherboard.

Zida was still alive and kicking in 1998:

Zida Tomato 6ABX

Could also remove the shroud and look at the chip directly. They got a print of the batch number that you can trace back