CHAINTECH VNF4/Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard

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Hi guys, back after a few months away from this great site/forum.

I have a question regarding the CHAINTECH VNF4/Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard I was searching all over the web but can't seem to find out if this motherboard will support the new AMD 64 X2(dual core) 939 CPU? It says it supports the AMD 64 & 64 FX CPUs, but what about AMD 64 X2(dual core) 939 CPU?

If anyone here can help me out, I'd be grateful. Thanks.
 
Most nForce4 based motherboards support such CPUs but not all of them do so out-of-the-box. Make sure to have a motherboard from the latest production batch. If not, it might be handy to have a single-core to flash the BIOS in case it doesn't want to power up with the dual-core one.
 
I think it's bios 5 and up support dual core.
http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=403871&highlight=vnf4
I think(IIRC) it will boot a dual core on any bios, but only with one core active, so then you can flash the bios w/ one core, to get access to both if you have an older bios, I may have read something incorrectly though when I saw that.

If you need help with a chaintech product, try out the pcper forums(chaintech represented), they have more specific support for chaintech products, not that we can't help you here of course, just they have more experience with the particular board.
 
DonNagual said:
Is your board the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra Zenith VE?

That one WILL support the X2 with a bios update.

SOURCE


1st let me say THANK YOU, to everyone who has posted a response, I really appreciate it.

Yes, mine is the Zenith Value Edition. I purchased it back in July 2005. When visting their site for the latest BIOS update, it states the newest BIOS update as being released back in June 2005. I assume that means my MOBO already comes with the latest BIOS in it since I purchased it a month after that BIOS update. Am I correct?

So if that is the case, I could just purchase a 64 X2 cpu & install & it will work, without the need for flashing the BIOS, right?
 
TMSKILZ said:
I assume that means my MOBO already comes with the latest BIOS in it since I purchased it a month after that BIOS update. Am I correct?

Unfortunately, that may or may not be the case. It all depends on how long that particular motherboard has been sitting on the shelves.

If you are buying from a store where you can get them to open up the package, you can look at the sticker on the motherboard, and it'll tell you what bios is in there. But if you are ordering online, unless you can actually talk to a person, you are at risk of the possibility of getting a board with an older bios. I don't know exactly at what point the bios starts supporting X2. So far we have conflicting info on this thread, one saying bios v.4.0 will work, another saying v5.0. To be safe, you want a board with v5.0.

If you have another computer with an Athlon64 lying around (or a friend) as a last resort, you could pop that one in there just to be able to boot up and load in the newer bios, then pop in that monster X2 of yours...
 
Hey DonNagual,

I bought the Mobo off Newegg.com.

Is there anyway of checking which BIOS is currently installed on my Mobo?
I guess going into the CMOS setup?
 
Are you able to get into the CMOS setup? If you are (with the dual core CPU) then great!!! It means your bios is v5.0 or later already installed.

If you are able to get your computer to POST, then you should be able to hit the "pause" button so the screen stops. The bios number will be posted on the screen.


But.... if you are unable to POST with that dual core CPU, it means you have pre-v5.0 installed.

I checked the chaintech website, and it does look like v5.0 is the first version to support that dual core. Link is HERE:

http://www.chaintech.com.tw/tw/eng/Download/dl_desc.asp?DCSNo=4&PISNo=318

Often there is a sticker on the motherboard that gives you the bios number, take a look on your motherboard for a sticker with AWARD on it, and see if you can find some numbers on there. I have found conflicting info on the web. Some say that AWARD will put the stickers on the board, but others say that PHOENIX bios stickers have nothing to do with the bios number, it is simply a sticker counter. (I believe Phoenix and Award are the same company).

Anyways, if there is an AWARD or PHOENIX sticker on your motherboard, do a google for the numbers it gives, and hopefully that will tell you what bios is installed. If there is no sticker, then I am afraid the only way to tell will be to pop in your dual core CPU, and if you boot up, you know you have v5.0 or newer!

If you are unable to POST, then your options are to either find a friend with a socket 939 CPU and use that to boot yours up, and download a newer bios, then replace yours.

Or to send yours board back, and get one with a newer bios.

(I am not really a pro on this type of thing so don't take my word here. Maybe someone else will come along and have some better news).
 
nO, YOU MISUNDERSTOOD.

I bought this mobo as an upgrade to replace the mobo I currently have inside my PC, but, have not installed it yet, b/c I'm holding off on the AMD64 X2 chips until they drop in price, but I wanted to know if this board supported the dual core chips.

I looked @ the mobo & found the sticker, it says "PHOENIXBIOS D686 125136535" I tried google but got nowhere, maybe you can search yourself & see?

Thanks.
 
After a little more digging, it looks as if there may be ANOTHER sticker underneath that Phoenix sticker. And that sticker apparently has the BIOS info.

Not 100% confident, but unless someone else has any other ideas.....
 
It seems I was right in my post above, it should boot and work with a dual core regardless of the bios as long as the bios can support Rev E(venice single core cpus), but on only one core which will let the pc work so you can flash the bios to v5.0.

This brings up the nagging question that is always asked when BIOS upgrades are required for certain CPUs. What do you do if you have a board that needs a BIOS upgrade for dual-core and you only have a dual-core chip? We asked AMD this question and got the following reply:

"If the BIOS you are working with (original BIOS in the board) supports a rev E single core (AKA... 90nm as most new boards should), it will allow you to flash the BIOS to a BIOS that supports rev E dual core. In my experience, a DC processor with single core rev E support will run fine, but only as a single core. If the BIOS doesn't support rev E (In other words, you may have a good board, but the BIOS is pretty old), you will likely need to install a pre-rev E (AKA-130nm) AMD processor to flash the BIOS.

I'm told that if a customer can't flash their BIOS, many mobo vendors will mail out the BIOS chip to them (if it's not soldered down, obviously)"

http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2457

In other words it shouldn't matter what bios your board has, it should be able to boot, and if your lucky it will already have V5.0 on it and you won't even have to flash it.
 
In the beginning there was confusion.

Then vnf4ultra came along and said "let there be clarity"

And it became so.

All praise him. For he is good. :angel:
 
LOL DonNag!

I really want to say a special THANK YOU to both DonNag & VNF4 for their help.

That's why I like coming to this site & forum for help, b/c most other places after maybe one response, no else follows up on the issue, but here , it's different.

You guys push forward, with continuance suggestions & help, am truly grateful.
 
Now, I just hope my source was right. I knew I read it somewhere, but couldn't recall where. Good luck and hope you like your X2 and Vnf4/ultra.
 
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