Socket 939 Motherboards with Dual-Core BIOS

In addition to the Official X2 Support list from AMD, manufacturers are releasing x2 BIOS updates for their motherboards. Below is a list compiled from the manufacturers that claim x2 compatibility with their BIOS update.

In general a board must be Socket 939, and the x2 updates, at least for the present, are mainly limited to the nVidia nForce4 family and a few VIA K8T890/K8T800Pro motherboards. The new ULI 1689 chipset also features x2 support, with AGP 8X on the M1689 and PCIe with the M1695. There are also several older VIA AGP boards in the X2 support list. ATI Crossfire AMD and SiS 756 also support dual-core, so new motherboards using these chipsets will support the new X2 Athlon 64.

"Check Web Site" means we could not find BIOS support for x2 processors at the website, and that you need to check the website or contact the manufacturer for an updated support lisitng.

Dual-Core BIOS Revision is the earliest listed BIOS to support Dual-core. Later BIOS for the same board can reasonably be expected to also support x2 processors.

AMD Dual-Core BIOS Releases

 

AMD Dual-Core BIOS Releases

Manufacturer

Model Number

Dual-Core BIOS Revision

Abit

 

Fatal1ty AN8 SLI

AN8 SLI

AN8 Ultra

AN8

AN8-V

1.5

(6/16/05)

AV8 - 3rd Eye

AV8

 2.1

(6/16/05)

Albatron

K8SLI

K8NF4U

K8NF4X

1,07a (Beta)

(5/30/05)

AOpen

Check Website

Check Website

ASRock

K8 Combo Z (ULi)

K8 Upgrade-VM800

2.1 (5/19/05)

1.4 (6/03/05)

Asus

A8N-SLI Premium

A8N-SLI Deluxe

A8N-SLI

A8N-E

1005

1010

1008

1004

A8V Deluxe

A8V

1013

0205

Biostar

N4SLI-A9

NF4UL-A9

NF4ST-A9

nslia614

nf4ua614

nf4sa614

Chaintech

VNF4/VNF4 Ultra

V5.0 (6/03/05)

S1689 (ULi)

0523 Beta (5/23/05)

DFI

LANParty nForce4 SLI

LANParty UTnF4 SLI-D

LANParty UTnF4 SLI-DR

LANParty UTnF4 Ultra-D

LANParty UTnF4 Ultra-DR

NFLD510 Beta

(5/10/05)

NOTE: 6/23/05 Recommended

LANParty UT LP NF3 Ultra-D

Shipping BIOS

ECS

KN1 Extreme

nForce4 A939

1.1A (6/02/05)

1.0D (6/02/05)

KV2 Extreme

KV2 Lite

1.2C (6/27/05)

1.1B (6/27/05)

Epox

9NPA+ SLI

Beta 05.05.26

Foxconn

NF4UK8AC

NF4K8AA

See Website (www.foxconnchannel.com)

Gigabyte

 K8N Ultra SLI

Check Website for other nF4

F3 (6/28/2005)

Check Website

K8U-939 (ULi-AGP)

F1

Jetway

939GT4-SLI

939GT4-Ultra

Check Website

MSI

K8N SLI Platinum

K8N Diamond

K8N Neo4 Platinum

K8N Neo4-Fi

K8N Neo4-F

3.4 (6/02/05)

1.4 (6/02/05)

1.5 (6/03/05)

1.5 (6/03/05)

1.5 (6/03/05)

MSI K8T Neo2-F/FIR

9.1 (6/08/05)

RS480-M2 (ATI)

RX480-M2 (ATI)

3.4 (5/13/05)

Soltek

SL-NF4PRO-939

1.1 (6/02/05)

SL-K8TPro-939

SL-B9D-FGR

SL-K8T-939FL

W1.5 (5/25/05)

G1.3 (5/16/05)

F1.1 (5/23/05)

 

 

AMD Recommended Motherboards for Dual Core Final Words
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  • Den - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    Both the ASUS A8N-E and A8V support the E4 (in addition to E3 and E6) stepping according to AMD's page though your article just lists E3 and E6. See cut and paste below...

    Asus
    A8N-E
    # 2.0 ATX nVidia nForce4 Ultra Cool'n'Quiet
    # PCIe™
    # Supports up to processor stepping: E3
    # Supports up to processor stepping: E4
    # Supports up to processor stepping: E6
  • xeizo - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    You forgot to mention in the text that there are indeed older K8T800Pro/agp-boards that supports dual-core, in fact they are on your list, like the Abit AV8 2.0 and the Soltek K8TPro-939 ....
  • Olaf van der Spek - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    > Date: June 28th, 2005
    > Topic: Business
    > Manufacturer: 3Com/U.S. Robotics
    > Author: Wesley Fink

    Did someone do too much copy/pasting?
    BTW, _new isn't a valid target for an anchor.
  • Houdani - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    Is there any value with including which SFF designs are X2 / Rev E compatible?

    I'm fairly certain the Shuttle SN25P does support the X2.
  • Aikouka - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    Just as a note, Gigabyte released the BIOS update for the GA-K8N Ultra-9 nForce 4 motherboard today.
  • Wesley Fink - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    $6 - While AMD did not officially support DDR400 with 4 dimms on earlier Athlon 64, the fact is almost every board we tested ran fine at DDR400 with 4 dimms. Check our earlier roundups. The boards that would NOT do DDR400 with 4 dimms stood out, since most would. Also 2x1GB has never been a problem at 1T in our testing.

    #7 and others - It's good to hear there are new BIOS' to support x2 on nForce3. The websites did not list any nF3 with x2 support when we suveyed the last few days, but readers with nF3 boards will be happy to know some are becoming available.

    #10 AMD says that if the board supports Rev. E the X2 chip should run in single core mode to allow BIOS update. If the board does NOT support Rev. E chips you will need a new BIOS chip or an earlier A64 to flash.
  • arswihart - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    this is what one user that I know of reported when he installed an X2 in an Epox 9nda3+ (NF3) mobo.
  • elpheer - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    Nice article.

    I'm unclear on one particular point though; am I correct in assuming that if you mount an X2 on a motherboad that has an outdated BIOS, it will successfully boot on just 1 core, thus allowing an OS installation?

    This in-case there is no immediate second hand PC available to make a BIOS disk to flash..
  • bigtoe36 - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    #6

    2x1gig dimms have been doing 1T for a while already with winchester and Clawhammer proving easliy capable of supporting the feature, it was however not guaranteed.

    4x double sided will always be 2t in my books, but E die seems to allow some good overclocking so much of the speed can be clawed back.
  • Wesley Fink - Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - link

    #5 - You're Correct and this has been updated.

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