Introduction
AMD 760MPX motherboards have just begun to pour into our labs lately and the question whether a normal Athlon XP processor could run in a dual processor configuration bugged our mind. So we took the latest MSI K7D Master motherboard and gave it a try.
We first installed the board with two of the latest AMD Duron 1.2GHz processor. We powered up the board and it ran just as we'd expected - a dual Duron system! Excited, we plugged in our AMD Athlon XP 2000+ processor and booted the system. When it got into the POST screen, it reported only one CPU and the BIOS warned us that the processor was not meant to be used in a dual configuration.
Now, if you've been reading elsewhere lately, people have reported that the BIOS will lock the CPU and not allow you to run it in dual configuration if it detects an XP processor. While it makes perfect sense, we were confused as to why our Duron processors worked. Why not the XP? That's the puzzling thing.
The Duron will POST as a dual Athlon MP running at a 100MHz system bus.
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Well, fortunately, we had another pair of older XP processors which we plugged into the board. Strangely, it worked as an MP processor. So, we took them and played the "spot the difference" game.
Read on to find out more...