Fry, baby, fry — MMX inferno

Question: I’d like to turn my Pentium 133 MHz computer into a Pentium 200 for Christmas. I checked the specifications for my motherboard, and it says it’ll only handle up to a Pentium 200, so I won’t be getting a 266 MHz chip or anything of that sort.

So a few questions:
My current 133 MHz chip has a little fan attached to it. When I get a new chip, does a mini-fan or a heat sink come pre-attached?
If there are no longer any non-MMX Pentium 200s on the market, am I safe plugging in a Pentium MMX 200 MHz chip into my motherboard?
Finally, are there any other “gotchas” I should be concerned about? — M.W.

Answer: Today’s lesson is about Chef Motherboard and her incredible ability to fry, sauté, or roast a computer chip.

The recipe for that disaster is simply two steps. Insert an MMX chip in a motherboard that doesn’t support it. Then turn it on. That little procedure will char your new piece of silicon into a pricey coaster for the beverage of your choice.

So when considering upgrading your Pentium system to a faster, MMX-featured chip, the first thing you’ll need to avert a disaster is to read that frightful documentation that came with the motherboard to determine if it is MMX-compatible.

Before I continue, though, here are some definitions. A Pentium MMX chip is an Intel processor that comes with a series of new instructions that accelerate multimedia functions. Do you need it? Not until software supports MMX instructions. Does it now? More so than a year ago. Many of the new games and advanced multimedia software do support MMX technology, but if you don’t have an MMX chip, don’t sweat it. The other neat thing about MMX chips is they come with a bigger cache, so you automatically get 10%-15% faster performance before a single MMX instruction has been issued.

So what the heck’s a motherboard? That’s the huge circuit board inside the computer where the processor, cache, and RAM are seated. It also contains the bus or circuitry that connects all the components. Think of a house with the motherboard – in computer-speak – as the walls, floor, and electrical system.

The key to upgrading a Pentium system to a Pentium MMX system is voltage. It is imperative that you check the capabilities of the motherboard before attempting an MMX upgrade. The motherboard literature must explicitly state it is MMX-compatible. “If it doesn’t, it isn’t!” said David Peterson, vice-president, marketing for Open Concept International in Edmonton.

The Pentium MMX CPUs have a 2.8-volt processor core where other non-MMX CPU’s have a 3.3 voltage.

“You can plug the CPU in – it will fit. You can turn your computer on. And after nothing happens, you can try to get your money back for a now cooked CPU,” said Peterson wryly.

If you buy an Intel-boxed CPU, including their overdrive CPUs, they will all come with a heat-sink and fan, but a word of caution: “A lot of the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)” – that’s the name-brand PC assemblers – “sell CPUs that need an add-on heat-sink,” explained Peterson.

Generally, these CPUs only come with a 90-day warranty, whereas the true boxed Intel CPUs come with a full three-year warranty, he said. If you ask a dealer for a boxed CPU, it will come with warranty registration cards and other paperwork. If there is no warranty card, you can be sure that it is not a boxed CPU. So buyer beware!

“Intel recommends that if people do a CPU upgrade, that they use the Overdrive processors,” said Peterson. That’s because they don’t require any change to the jumpers on the motherboard.

“They are, in every way, the same as the boxed CPUs, although the fan draws power from the chip itself so the wiring is a little simpler,” added Peterson.

Finally, for those who follow the rules, there is a voltage warning on the boxed chips that recommends it only be installed by professionally trained “Intel Processor Dealers.”