Anyone using 45nm CPUs on 965P rev 1.0 boards?

[ZeManel]

Hi,
I own a 965P-DS4 rev1.0 - currently using it with an E6300 C2D.
I'd like to upgrade to either a Q8xxx quad or an E7xxx or E8xxx dual.
All of these would be 45nm, and except for the E7xxx, they all have a 1333 FSB.

Now, officially Gigabyte lists these CPUs as not being supported by the rev 1.0 boards (this includes the S3, DS3 and DQ6 variants, which all correspond to the C1 stepping of the 965P chipset).
However, I've seen posts of people showing CPU-Z screenshots of rev1.0 boards running these CPUs - e,g, one guy was running an E8500 at close to 4GHz.
Also, the E5200 is built on 45nm and isn't supposed to work but there are plenty of people running them on rev 1.0 boards.


My question is this: if I set my FSB to 333x4=1333 manually while using the E6300 and then swap the CPU for say an E8500, will the E8500 run fine, post, make it to BIOS and be stable? Or is there a fundamental incompatibility between C1 965P chipsets and such CPUs?

Also, out of curiosity: do you have a 965P xxx rev1.0 board running a Q8xxx, E7xxx or E8xxx CPU?

cheers
Ze

[Nickel020]

Re: Anyone using 45nm CPUs on 965P rev 1.0 boards?

I don't have your board but generally 965P boards do support the 45nm CPUs, I have not heard of anyone having problems running a 45nm CPU on a 965P board.

You should update the BIOS to the latest version and load optimized defaults, then replace the CPU. If the FSB is not recognized properly you can still change it in BIOS after installing the 45nm CPU (but I doubt that you will have a problem with this).

[ZeManel]

Re: Anyone using 45nm CPUs on 965P rev 1.0 boards?

Thanks for your reply.

Indeed later revisions (mine is C1, i.e. rev 1.0) of the 965P chipset were compatible with 1333FSB CPUs.
That's why I thought that maybe if I set my FSB speed manually it would be possible to run one of these more recent 45nm CPUs - say a Q8200.

However, Gigabyte hasn't released any new BIOS for the rev 1.0 motherboards to support the new CPUs' microcode.
So, as you can imagine, it's a big gamble to go out and buy a fairly expensive CPU only to find that it doesn't work on your motherboard (which I like btw).

That's why I would be more confident if other people had actually gone through the process themselves, and if it worked for them. Also, a word from someone in the know at Gigabyte would be very welcome.

cheers
Ze