Representatives for Advanced Micro Devices confirmed on Wednesday that to support AMD Athlon 64 processors revision E will need a BIOS update. The company did not reckon any other obstacles to support the upcoming central processing units that support SSE3 technology among other advantages. “Mainboards need fresh BIOS revisions to support the new revisions of AMD Athlon processors. The new rev parts are 90nm, with SSE3 support, and a few tweaks to the memory controller and a different OPN,” AMD’s spokesman Damon Muzny told X-bit labs.

A web-site last week published a number of news-stories in regards compatibility of the AMD Athlon 64 revision E0 with different mainboards shipping today, particularly those based on popular NVIDIA nForce3 and 4 chipsets. NVIDIA, who said there were no compatibility issues between its chipsets and AMD’s new processors, pointed out that “a couple” of mainboard makers – ABIT and EPoX products included – did not follow AMD requirements, but were still able to tackle compatibility, at least on some of their mainboards, issue with BIOS update.

News source: X-bit labs

File Sizes and MD5 Hashes

English March 2005 Full File Size: 131 MB (137554161 bytes)
English March 2005 Full MD5 Hash: 020EAF19F9080DE762FEEEC42D6E63B6
English March 2005 Lite File Size: 36.5 MB (38329271 bytes)
English March 2005 Lite MD5 Hash: 59A28D31BAE9A89BE94CAF6BAA3F32B2

What's Included:

Windows XP SP2 - Critical Updates
KB834707: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer
KB873339: Vulnerability in HyperTerminal could allow code execution
KB873374: Microsoft GDI+ Detection Tool
KB885626: Your computer stops responding when you restart to complete the installation of Windows XP SP2
KB885835: Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel and LSASS could allow elevation of privilege
KB885836: A vulnerability in WordPad could allow code execution
KB886185: Windows Firewall "My Network (subnet) only" scoping
KB890175: Vulnerability in HTML Help could allow code execution
KB890830: Malicious Software Removal Tool
KB867282: Cumulative Security Update for IE for XP Service Pack 2
KB873333: Security Update for Windows XP
KB885250: Security Update for Windows XP
KB886903: Security Update for .NET Framework 1.1 SP1
KB888113: Security Update for Windows XP
KB888302: Security Update for Windows XP
KB890047: Security Update for Windows XP
KB891781: Security Update for Windows XP

Windows XP SP2 - Recommended updates
KB831240: Update for HighMAT support in the Windows XP CD Writing Wizard
KB884020: Loopback IP address range problem
KB885222: Performance of 1394 devices may decrease after you install Windows XP SP2
KB886677: Corrupt DBCS characters in Internet Explorer on Windows XP
KB887742: Stop error "Stop 0x05" in Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003
KB887797: Cumulative Update for Outlook Express for Windows XP
KB888240: Add-ons not listed in Internet Explorer on Windows XP SP2
KB890831: Input Method Editor disabled when using MSN Messenger in Windows XP SP2

Addons
Adaptec ASPI
Bootvis 1.3.37 (only in Full)
Official Windows XP PowerToys
Copy Profile Tool
DirectX Control Panel
Google Toolbar (only in Full)
ieSpellcheck (only in Full)
PowerMenu 1.5.1
Startup Control Panel 2.8
New XP Style Wallpapers (only in Full)
New XP Screensavers (only in Full)
.NET Framework 1.1 (+SP1) (only in Full)
Windows Media Player 10.0.3802 (only in Full)
Windows Journal Viewer 1.5 (only in Full)
MSN Messenger 6.2.0205 (only in Full)
Windows Messenger 5.1 (only in Full)
Macromedia Shockwave Player (only in Full)
Windows Media Connect (only in Full)
Sun Java 1.5.0_02 (only in Full)

And of course a lot of registry tweaks which improve speed, appearance, functionality and security!


There are 22 additional comments
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Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by Joel Ogden on 24 Mar 2005 - 17:31
QUOTE
Representatives for Advanced Micro Devices confirmed on Wednesday that to support AMD Athlon 64 processors revision E will need a BIOS update.


I think it should say 'some motherboards' in there...
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by dave164 on 24 Mar 2005 - 17:35
Will these new A64's be s939?
Quote this comment #2.1 Posted by soldier1st on 24 Mar 2005 - 17:57
i believe they will,i don't think they will be socket 754 as nforce 3 chipsets use socket 754,socket 939 will be the one that will be used for sure.
Quote this comment #2.2 Posted by georgi55 on 24 Mar 2005 - 18:36
QUOTE
nforce 3 chipsets use socket 754


Nforce 3 Ultra is 939
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by SVT on 24 Mar 2005 - 17:49
QUOTE
BIOS


1982 called, it wants its boot firmware back!

Hey Intel and AMD, how about we bring something like OpenBoot(UltraSPARC) or OpenFirmware(PowerPC) over to x86?
(4 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by soldier1st on 24 Mar 2005 - 18:00
i doubt that will happen.thats old tech.
Quote this comment #4.1 Posted by bucko on 24 Mar 2005 - 18:51
Bios works fine, so if it aint broke don't fix it.
Quote this comment #4.2 Posted by theyarecomingforyou on 24 Mar 2005 - 19:40
BIOS works, but it is far from good. In this day and age they should support for mice and a graphics resolution of 1024x768@75Hz, as well as making it easily accessible through software so that it can be updated and configured in the OS (several manufacturers offer the ability to update the BIOS like that already, but it should be universal).
Quote this comment #4.3 Posted by Billprozac on 24 Mar 2005 - 20:32
So virus can target that even easier?

IMHO I like the fact that flashing the BIOS takes a little bit of thought. Certainly makes it harder to screw up!
Quote this comment #4.4 Posted by theyarecomingforyou on 24 Mar 2005 - 23:29
QUOTE
So virus can target that even easier?


Makes no difference if you have dual-BIOS, as you just revert back to the old one and clean out the infected chip. BIOS is one of the few things to have not moved with the times and it unnecessarily daunting to the move novice user - they should have wizards and online interactivity to allow even a novice user to setup their computer properly.

I don't think they should just play with it for the sake of doing so, but the BIOS is seriously outdated and could be significantly improved.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by bucko on 24 Mar 2005 - 18:50
Nice one AMD. Compatibility is key to success.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by McG on 24 Mar 2005 - 19:44
Sweet.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by hardgiant on 24 Mar 2005 - 19:50
So basically if you have a ASUS motherboard your good to go.
Quote this comment #7.1 Posted by ReAnimation on 24 Mar 2005 - 20:11
Abit has already got a bios updated sorted for the E0 Athlon 64's.
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by hkgonra on 24 Mar 2005 - 23:25
Wouldn't just about everyone check for a BIOS upgrade whenever they are changing hardware, especially the processor ?
Quote this comment #8.1 Posted by PayneX on 24 Mar 2005 - 23:38
"Just about everyone" uses windows update.
Quote this comment #8.2 Posted by theyarecomingforyou on 25 Mar 2005 - 01:27
I wouldn't think to upgrade the BIOS when changing the CPU... I usually consider BIOS updates to be minor tweaks that generally aren't necessary, rather than being necessary to support newer CPU's. In fact I haven't upgraded a BIOS for about 7-8 years (maybe longer), as I have never needed to - I think when I did it was only to support automatic shutdown for Windows 95 or 98. *shrugs*
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by BeyondGodlike on 25 Mar 2005 - 00:17
just the board at least boot
i dont have a floppy drive so how would i update the bios if the cpu doesnt boot
Quote this comment #9.1 Posted by mr_da3m0n on 25 Mar 2005 - 03:52
In your situation I don't think having a floppy drive would have made much of a difference...
Quote this comment #9.2 Posted by ChopSuey on 25 Mar 2005 - 05:56
The BIOS has to be updated before the new CPU is installed.
Quote this comment #9.3 Posted by BeyondGodlike on 25 Mar 2005 - 16:54
oh thats kinda dumb
the people who buy old stock of nforce3 boards with new cpu's will then have trouble..
luckily ive already got my neo2 so IF i choose 2 upgrade int he future im ok
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #10 Posted by markyp23 on 25 Mar 2005 - 22:36
s939??
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