Motherboard Compatibility for Wolfdale and Yorkfield Processors
by Gary Key on October 29, 2007 4:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte
Like the other manufacturers, Gigabyte is in the process of releasing optimized BIOS releases at this time that address both performance and CPU recognition on their motherboards that use Intel chipsets. We will be testing their P965 motherboards shortly to see if the latest revision 3 boards work properly or not. However, since the P965 chipset does not officially support the new 45nm processors, there is no guarantee of compatibility. We fully expect the GeForce 7150 board to be certified shortly but we are still leery of the 650i/680i motherboards after experiencing problems with the 1333FSB rates with the QX6850 processors.
Intel
We expect to see further BIOS releases from Intel shortly on their branded motherboards that address CPU recognition and performance optimizations. However, you should not have any problems running your system with the motherboards and BIOS releases shown.
MSI
MSI has already posted full Wolfdale and Yorkfield compatibility testing on their website for each of the boards listed above. We have to hand it to MSI for being ahead of the game when it comes to customer support in this area. MSI will be providing additional performance optimizations in their BIOS spins over the course of the next few weeks.
| Gigabyte Motherboards with Intel 45nm Processor Support | ||
| Model | Platform | Notes |
| GA-G31MX-S2 | Intel G31/ICH7 | - |
| GA-G31M-S2L | Intel G31/ICH7 | F3c Optimized |
| GA-G33M-DS2R | Intel G33/ICH9R | - |
| GA-G33M-S2 Series | Intel G33/ICH9 | F2b Optimized |
| GA-P31-DS3L | Intel P31/ICH7 | - |
| GA-P31-S3G | Intel P31/ICH7 | F2a Optimized |
| GA-P35C-DS3R | Intel P35/ICH9R | F5 Optimized |
| GA-P35C-S3 | Intel P35/ICH9R | - |
| GA-P35-DQ6 | Intel P35/ICH9R | - |
| GA-P35-DS3 | Intel P35/ICH9 | - |
| GA-P35-DS3R | Intel P35/ICH9R | F7d Optimized |
| GA-P35-DS3L | Intel P35/ICH9 | - |
| DA-P35-DS3P | Intel P35/ICH9 | - |
| GA-P35-DS4 | Intel P35/ICH9R | - |
| GA-P35-S3 | Intel P35/ICH9 | - |
| GA-P35-S3L | Intel P35/ICH9 | - |
| GA-P35T-DQ6 | Intel P35/ICH9R | F5c Optimized |
| GA-P35T-DS4 | Intel P35/ICH9R | - |
| GA-X38-DQ6 | Intel X38/ICH9R | - |
| GA-X38T-DQ6 | Intel X38/ICH9R | - |
| GA-73UM-S2H | NVIDIA 7150/630i | In Qualification Testing |
| GA-N650SLI-DS4 | NVIDIA 650i SLI | In Qualification Testing |
| GA-N680SLI-DQ6 rev2 | NVIDIA 680i SLI | In Qualification Testing |
| . | ||
Like the other manufacturers, Gigabyte is in the process of releasing optimized BIOS releases at this time that address both performance and CPU recognition on their motherboards that use Intel chipsets. We will be testing their P965 motherboards shortly to see if the latest revision 3 boards work properly or not. However, since the P965 chipset does not officially support the new 45nm processors, there is no guarantee of compatibility. We fully expect the GeForce 7150 board to be certified shortly but we are still leery of the 650i/680i motherboards after experiencing problems with the 1333FSB rates with the QX6850 processors.
Intel
| Intel Motherboards with Intel 45nm Processor Support | ||
| Model | Platform | Notes |
| DX38BT | Intel X38/ICH9R | BIOS 1251 or up |
| DG33TL | Intel G33/ICH9R | BIOS 0297 or up |
| DP35DP | Intel P35/ICH9R | BIOS 0297 or up |
| DQ35MP | Intel Q35/ICH9R | BIOS release pending |
| DQ36JO | Intel Q35/ICH9R | BIOS release pending |
| DG33BU | Intel G33/ICH9 | BIOS 0297 or up |
| DG33FB | Intel G33/ICH9 | BIOS 0297 or up |
| . | ||
We expect to see further BIOS releases from Intel shortly on their branded motherboards that address CPU recognition and performance optimizations. However, you should not have any problems running your system with the motherboards and BIOS releases shown.
MSI
| MSI Motherboards with Intel 45nm Processor Support | ||
| Model | Platform | Notes |
| G31M | Intel G31/ICH7 | BIOS 7.x or later |
| G31M2 | Intel G31/ICH7 | BIOS 5.x or later |
| G33 Neo | Intel G33/ICH9 | BIOS 1.1 or later |
| G33 Platinum | Intel G33/ICH9R | BIOS 1.1 or later |
| G33M | Intel G33/ICH9 | BIOS 1.1 or later |
| P31 Neo | Intel P31/ICH7 | BIOS 1.1 or later |
| P31 Neo2 | Intel P31/ICH7R | BIOS 4.x or later |
| P35 Diamond | Intel P35/ICH9R | BIOS 2.1 or later |
| P35 Neo | Intel P35/ICH9 | BIOS 1.3 or later |
| P35 Neo2 | Intel P35/ICH9 | BIOS 1.4 or later |
| P35 Neo3 | Intel P35/ICH9 | BIOS 1.x or later |
| P35 Platinum | Intel P35/ICH9R | BIOS 1.4 or later |
| P35D3 Platinum | Intel P35/ICH9R | BIOS 1.1 or later |
| X38 Diamond | Intel X38/ICH9R | BIOS 1.x or later |
| X35 Platinum | Intel X38/ICH9R | BIOS 1.x or later |
| P965 Platinum | Intel P965/ICH8R | BIOS 1.7 or later |
| P965 Neo2 | Intel P965/ICH8R | BIOS 3.7 or later |
| P965 Neo-F V2 | Intel P965/ICH8 | BIOS 3.7 or later |
| 945 Neo5 | Intel 945GC/ICH7 | BIOS C.x or later, Yorkfield under Testing |
| 945GCM5 V2 | Intel 945GC/ICH7 | BIOS H.5 or later, Yorkfield under Testing |
| P6NGM | NVIDIA GF7150/630i | BIOS 1.x or later |
| P6N SLI | NVIDIA 650i SLI | BIOS 1.x or later |
| P6N Diamond | NVIDIA 680i SLI | BIOS 1.3 or later |
| . | ||
MSI has already posted full Wolfdale and Yorkfield compatibility testing on their website for each of the boards listed above. We have to hand it to MSI for being ahead of the game when it comes to customer support in this area. MSI will be providing additional performance optimizations in their BIOS spins over the course of the next few weeks.
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19 Comments
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nowayout99 - Sunday, November 25, 2007 - link
The popular Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L board is Yorkfield-friendly with the F6 update.mbf - Monday, November 19, 2007 - link
...changed its mind about support for Penryn processors on i975X-based boards. As the newly revised list at http://event.asus.com/mb/45nm/">http://event.asus.com/mb/45nm/ shows there is now not a single i975X-based board on that list. Very strange when an even more aging chipset like the i945GC at least still supports the dual-core (Wolfdale) models. Strange stuff indeed...papi4baby - Thursday, November 15, 2007 - link
Thanks.MichaelD - Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - link
I have a Gigabyte P965-DS3 Rev1.0. Any word on Yorkfield compatibility?CZroe - Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - link
As is stands, I'm most interested in the Asus P5N32-SLI PLUS. It was made as a cheaper alternative to the P5N32-SLI and is superior because it uses all solid caps and remains feature-identical with the 680i board. The interesting part is that it is actually a combination of a 650i and an AMD chipset to get 2x16 PRG slots and more. This is why I am extremely curious to know if it supportes these next-gen CPUs. It is often incorrectly called a 680i board or a 650i board, so Asus had to come up with their own chpset name for it on the website (though no one seems to have gone along).Please ask and update because it's popular in high-end systems. Also, it is the cheapest board I could find with DTS Connect, so I'm sure a lot of mid-range HTPC buyers snapped it up too and they would like to know.
MAValpha - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
Wait, so abit is updating their 945G board, but not their once-flagship AB9 Pro or QuadGT? I'll be more than a little surprised if the VRM isn't compatible, as 1333FSB support certainly isn't the issue here...And more disappointing, DFI isn't doing anything with the RD600-based ICFX3200-T2R/G! Is this board just being swept under the rug as a costly mistake?
8KCABrett - Monday, April 7, 2008 - link
Actually, Abit does now have a beta BIOS which supports the 45nm CPUs out for a few more of their P965 boards, including the AB9 QuadGT.Here is a thread on the subject in the ABIT forums:
http://forum.uabit.com/showthread.php?t=136523">http://forum.uabit.com/showthread.php?t=136523
Here is the BIOS download post: http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=122393">http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=122393
Lord 666 - Saturday, September 20, 2008 - link
Took the plunge and tried installing a Q9550 into my Abit AB9 Quad GT. First tried the BIOS 17 that was on their Tawain site, but it was not marked beta. Watched the bios with the E6600 in board over the weekend, found it to be stable so I moved forward with installing the new CPU into an existing Vista Ultimate 32bit build.While the CPU was functional and noticeably faster than the E6600 that was in previously, there were random application errors during bootup and while idle. Right after bootup, there were application failures tied into Windows Media Center. After selecting a previously known working file with Windows Media Player, it would play the first second and then crash the application. WMC wasn't able to access live TV anymore because it stated my dinky USB TV tuner was not found (but saw it within device manager)
I wiped Vista and went to XP64 and have not had these issues... but that the same time don't have WMC and other XP 64bit issues.
Lesson learned is I should have stuck with the Q6600 with this board. In the process of finding a suitable board for the Q9550 and going to eventually pair the still rock solid QuadGT with a new Q6600.
Calin - Monday, October 29, 2007 - link
There was a time when only VIA had support in chipset for the fastest FSB from Intel (the 133MHz front side bus P3 chipsets)CZroe - Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - link
I dunno... Weren't there even 440BX boards with 133FSB? I think you are talking about UDMA133/EIDE133/ATA133. That was not an official standard and IBM refusted to make drives supporting it. When IBM sold the division to Hitachi and nVidia nodded with UDMA133 on the nForce, we finally got UDMA133 Deskstar HDDs. ;)