VOGONS

Search

Common searches

Slowing a P2 on 440LX: 120/60MHz, 100/50MHz possible?

Topic actions

First post, by archsan

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I read my old ASUS P2L-B manual and it shows 60MHz FSB setting. So, if you want to slowdown a P2 (Deschutes), 440LX seem to be a better choice than 440BX, since most of BX boards only support 66MHz bus at the minimum.

Then I came to this THG review of 440LX boards while searching for viable 440LX option for low-clock P2 experiment. And look at the ABIT LX6:

The LX6 was a pleasure to do testing with and it performed excellent in every test. It holds the lead in most of the benchmarks and is worth a big recommendation. The board is not a cheap and tiny little thing, it's only using high quality components, comes with the well known SoftMenuTM feature, which leaves you the bus speed options of 50 to 100 (!!) MHz.

If it's working, then 2.0x multiplier gives 100MHz with a slow 50MHz bus!--IF it's working... I don't know about the availability of the LX6 board though (wasn't it popular in 1997?).

Unfortunately i have yet to acquire the unlocked Deschutes P2 and my old P2L-B is gone, so i can't do any test yet. Maybe you have an 'unlocked'/multiplier-limited Deschutes P2 and a 440LX motherboard lying around? 😊

related thread: Slowing a 440BX based PC

Reply 1 of 2, by gerwin

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Interesting idea. I cannot test this either, as I do not have any 440LX board.

This topic seems to be using an 440LX, but they cannot get very low with this board. I can go slower with a 440BX. Computing.net The 180MHz Vista PC. The "XP on a 8MHz PC with 20MB of RAM" topic they link to is also a fun read.

This also makes me wonder if there are tools to pull down the FSB speed on an 440BX board, which do not depend on the BIOS... Leaves me to say that when changing the FSB speed on a mainboard you have to consider whether the AGP, PCI and ISA clocks are out of spec.

Reply 2 of 2, by archsan

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

...XP runs now with the clock of an ISA Slot!

That was hilarious indeed.

That jackbomb guy from that 180MHz Vista PC link was using P2-300, which i guess is similar to leileilol's 233MHz Klamath story on the BX thread (3.0x limit). I bet your Deschutes, for example, would do a better job here.

I thought (slightly) slower AGP/PCI/ISA clock, though out of spec, would be more tolerable than faster-than-spec clock speeds.

The good thing is that the ABIT LX6 seems to be the most popular of 440LX boards (at least for enthusiast), as both THG and Anandtech praised it--but still not as easy to find as P2B's on the market. There is one for sale in ebay USA for $5-6, but without any pic/spec.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."—Arthur C. Clarke
"No way. Installing the drivers on these things always gives me a headache."—Guybrush Threepwood (on cutting-edge voodoo technology)

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to General Old Hardware
Close window
Close window