# PC Chips M848A V5.0 w/ AMD Athlon XP 3200+ anyone?



## joe_cooler (Jul 13, 2007)

*Is anyone succesfully running the 3200+ CPU with the PC Chips M848A V5.0 MB?

If so, how did you get it to run?

Thx!!!*


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## Ericwaycotx (Oct 16, 2005)

Umm, I actually built a Socket A Amd athlon 2400 with a PC chips board. I don't remember the exact model though. It's been years ago.

For such an unknown company with such a cheezy name, their boards are actually very stable.

Are you having a problem....?


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## joe_cooler (Jul 13, 2007)

*Well, I am currently running a 2400+ w/ 2GB of 400Mhz RAM. Very stable and pretty quick. I just wanted to max out the processor. I put an untested 3200+ (but guranteed) in and got nothing but power. No post. Wondering if its the board not reading or the CPU is bad....

It says you have to overclock to a 400Mhz FSB so I figure it would post at a slower speed and then you go into the Bios and crank up the bus speed to get full use.*


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## Ericwaycotx (Oct 16, 2005)

I took this directly out of the motherboard manual.

"High Performance Host Interface: Supports AMD Athlon XP & Duron
CPU up to 333 MHz and Synchronous/Quasi-synchronous Host-to-
DRAM Timing"

Appears that you are out of luck as your motherboard doesn't support a 400mhz bus.


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## joe_cooler (Jul 13, 2007)

Yeah, right out of the book:

*"This motherboard has a Socket-A supporting AMD Athlon XP/ Sempron
processors, with Front-Side Bus 400*/333/266 MHz.*

This motherboard integrates SiS746FX Northbridge and SiS963L Southbridge


*The key features of this motherboard include:
Socket-A Processor Support
• Supports AMD Athlon XP/ Sempron processors
• Supports up to 400*/333/266 MHz Front-Side Bus
Note: * Supports FSB 400 MHz only by overclocking.
*

That is what has me confused.......any additional guidance?


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## sneitzel (Aug 6, 2007)

I just spent a VERY frustrating weekend trying to build a machine for a friend with these same specs.
PC Chips M848A MB
Athlon XP 3200

I did get it to boot up and did get XP to install but it seems like the machine is unstable. I keep getting corrupt file errors from the HD (known good drive) and keep getting errors when I try to unzip files (archive is corrupt) or install some MS updates like dotnet 2.0.

Anyone have any ideas here?


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## Rebellion88 (Dec 15, 2006)

Not sure, I built a machine a while back with that motherboard and a AMD 2600+ 512kb Cache Barton core. It ran like a dream, you could try a bios update if you haven't already and and your systems drivers.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

What ram are you running?


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## joe_cooler (Jul 13, 2007)

*I am running Samsung ram 2 x 1GB. I sent the 3200+ back and exchanged it for a 3000+. Once that arrives I will swap it in and see what happens. The system is super stable with the 2400+. 

This is a power hungry board so have an awesome power supply or you will experience failures. I have a 500 watt Ultimate w/ a lifetime gurantee.*


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

What speed ram is what I need to know, also when you get the 3000 cpu in write down the opn number from the top of the cpu before you install it, this may help us later on if you have problems.

Keep us updated and good luck


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## joe_cooler (Jul 13, 2007)

*Its the 400Mhz PC3200. I will post the CPU Number upon receipt. So far the board is awesome and really stable. Not a crash or lock up in 2 months. I am running 2 partitioned hard drives, a DVD-RW, GeForce 7600 GS 512MB 8x AGP and three or four fans. Thanks for the input....ray:*


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## sneitzel (Aug 6, 2007)

I believe my issue was also associated to the 3200+ CPU or possibly the way this particular board supports those processors, only by *overclocking*.

I backed the FSB off from 200 to 190 causing the board to see my 2.2GHz processor as a 2.1GHz. This small change resulted in a rock solid stable system. 

My combination of CPU, MB, Memory etc. must have been pushing the edge running at full speed and that was causing the instability.

It is a little frustrating not being able to run at full advertised speed but I guess a few MHz is is a small price to pay since boards that support Athlon XP chips are getting scarce.


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## joe_cooler (Jul 13, 2007)

*Well, I installed a 3000+, and of course, it wouldn't post. The 2400+ is just fine though. Even cleared the cmos before the install to see if it would detect the bus. Used an AXDA3000DKV4D stepping AQXEA. Guess the CPU is bad. Will post again when I complete the exchange...:sigh:*


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## brokencans (Sep 7, 2008)

I've got the same M848A mobo, and I can't get it to recognize my Athlon 2400+ AXDA2400DKV3C and run it at anything faster than 1 gHz.. I've tried the BIOS update, and still, the best I get is an incorrectly recognized processor at 1 gig.. 

Anyone have any ideas?


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## crave420fubar (Sep 17, 2008)

I have 2 of these boards and have had no problems with them. Well, except for the one that I fried the primary eide controller on but that was my bad as I plugged in an HDD while it was on. I actually could hear the HDD head slam in to the spindle but the HDD was A OKAY (big ups for Seagate). The board still functions but is now in the soon to die pile as it will suffer the trial by fire (OC till fry) it's only a 1.4 Duron I just want to see how high it can go till flames shoot out. Will take video of this project in college and if requested may post it here. One problem is I need a cheap AGP card so as to not fry a BFG. Place your bets on what frys first north, south or CPU.

Stage 1: Run at normal
Stage 2: Run at a stable OC
Stage 3: Run at as high of an OC as possible without fry
Stage 4: On fire (may use a super cooling method)


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## brokencans (Sep 7, 2008)

crave420fubar said:


> I have 2 of these boards and have had no problems with them.


Yeah, as it turns out, the CPU wasn't what it was claimed to be. I put it in another board and had the same problem. 

Sometimes ebay pisses me off.


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## crave420fubar (Sep 17, 2008)

Sorry to hear that but IMO Ebay sucks because of the at-own-risk factor.


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## brokencans (Sep 7, 2008)

crave420fubar said:


> Sorry to hear that but IMO Ebay sucks because of the at-own-risk factor.


Oh, yeah, definitely my fault for "trusting" someone on ebay, but hey, 10 bucks for a 1 gig chip ain't all that bad, and at least it works


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