Abit SM5, User Manual

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Installing the Mainboard 2-11
®
Presentation and Installation of the CPU
Jumperless Mainboard (Mainboard with no DIP Switch or Jumper)
The SM5/SM5-A mainboard can be installed with CPU without the hardware
setting of the CPU.
On other boards, when you want to install the CPU, you have, more or less, to
setup some jumpers or DIP switches. With this mainboard, you will not need to
adjust any jumper or switch. The CPU speed and model is set up by software, in
order to allow the user to complete setup and installation procedures easily. After you
have inserted the CPU on the CPU socket, you can close the computer case and turn
the computer on. You just need to enter the CPU
SOFT MENU™ located in the
BIOS Setup, and to setup the speed and the voltage of the CPU to compete the
installation. Even if you don
’
t need to setup any switch, we recommend you to read
our presentation of the CPUs, it will be useful information for you.
Since 1996, every two or three months, Intel adds new models to the Pentium
CPU series. That is why the CPU market is filled with a lot of different models and
brands. All CPUs have different electrical specifications. That
’
s why installing a CPU
is becoming more and more complex. You can
’
t help that, because everybody wants
to be able to upgrade its hardware. So, you have to take a bit of time to read this
section, in order to be able to install a cheaper and better processor.
This mainboard does not only support all the CPUs listed in the specifications,
but also has reserved several circuits in order to be able to support future processors.
But before we go further in our presentation, we must clarify that
“
we have only
tested the CPUs listed in Chapter 1
”
, we cannot guarantee that this board will be
able to support future products, because we cannot forecast future developments.
But we will do our best to support any possible CPU.
Related terminology :
External clock
Also referred to as the external CPU clock, or
“
Bus clock
”
, it is the input clock
of the CPU. For instance, Intel Pentium P90, P120 and P150 all have a
60MHz external CPU clock, but have different internal clock multiplier factors.
Clock multiplier factor
The real operation clock within the CPU is the multiple of the external clock.