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What does a board need in order to support dual processing?

To ensure that the processors will work in a dual processing system, you must make sure that the motherboard will fully support dual processing, and that it will support the specific processors you want to use. Therefore, you should check the following:

  1. Due to the variety of motherboard vendors in the market and the number of system BIOS revisions, some system-level issues may occur that lie outside the realm of any mixed stepping evaluation performed by Intel. Intel recommends that you:
    • Choose a motherboard vendor with a history of dual processor experience.
    • Contact your motherboard vendor for information on mixed stepping validation performed on your particular dual processor motherboard.

    Note: Although Intel includes a dual processing "known issues" table, only the motherboard vendor can say definitively if a particular pair of mixed steppings has been validated in that particular motherboard.

  2. The power supply must be able to provide sufficient power to the motherboard with the dual processors and all peripherals connected to the motherboard.

  3. If you use two processors that have different voltages, the motherboard must have two voltage regulators to operate both processors properly.

  4. Intel does not recommend using slot-to-socket adapters (SSA) in dual processing systems. If you decide to use a SSA, be sure to check that the motherboard manufacturer has validated the specific SSA with the specific motherboard and processor you are using.

This applies to:
Intel® Celeron® Processor Family
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Extreme Edition
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processors
Intel® Pentium® II Processor
Intel® Pentium® II Xeon® Processor
Intel® Pentium® III Processor
Intel® Pentium® III Xeon® Processor
Intel® Pentium® M Processor
Intel® Pentium® Pro Processors
Intel® Pentium® Processor
Intel® Pentium® Processor with MMX™ Technology
Intel® Xeon® Processor
Mobile Intel® Celeron® Processors
Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processors - M
Mobile Intel® Pentium® II Processors
Mobile Intel® Pentium® III Processor
Mobile Intel® Pentium® Processors
OverDrive® Processors

Solution ID: CS-007879
Date Created: 15-Dec-2003
Last Modified: 20-Jan-2008
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