MSI 694D dual p3 motherboard

[568overclocked]

I have the MSI 694D dual p3 board sitting in my closet. I think I came across a good deal on (2) 1000mhz p3 and (4) 256mb PC133R CL3 ECC ram

Can the ram above work fine on this board. I was told the ram came off of a Dell Power Edge Server so i take it the R at the end of the PC133R means it's registered memory.

I'm going to pay $100 total for both CPUs and $40 total for 4 sticks of 256mb ram.

any help?

 

[tcsenter]

I'm going to pay $100 total for both CPUs and $40 total for 4 sticks of 256mb ram.

The CPUs are a little high. Ebay is loaded with matched pairs of 933MHz and faster PIIIs from reputable sellers with DOA guarantees. I've seen matched pairs of PIII 933 go for $50 shipped. Also, you may have trouble running all four modules at 133MHz. When using PC133 memory, MSI advises not to exceed 6 banks (i.e. 3 double-sided modules).

Are you building this out of personal interest or something else? Because just about any current Socket A or Socket 478 uniprocessor system will out-perform dual PIII (e.g. KT600/880 or PT800/880). And you would get a much better Southbridge than the buggy VIA VT82C686B; SATA + PATA, RAID, 48-bit LBA, superior integrated audio, etc.

 

[Peter]

You need to check the production lot code of the CPUs for whether they're dual-capable at all. It's an Sxxxx code printed onto them, which the Intel web site lets you look up in their database. And of course, the two need to be of the same lot code.

The VIA chipset does support (R)egistered DIMMs, so these should work. ECC is also supported. YMMV - it all depends on whether MSI actually chose to implement the chipset's capabilities in their board design and BIOS.

Besides, the 686B isn't "buggy" no matter how often this is parrotted. Problems arise when BIOSes aren't setting it up right, and/or when there is an SB!Live in the system (which actually DOES have a PCI signalling bug). But true, $140 buys you a socket-A processor, mainboard and RAM that will outperform that old thing hands down.

 

[568overclocked]

thanks for the input...i'll have to rethink this through. after talking to the guy, he said the cpus are mathced and he'll do both cpus for $70. memory is still $40 for (4) 256mb