I have an ECS P4VXASD2+ (V5.0) motherboard, which supports a 533 MHz FSB.
I want to put in a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor (Socket 478) with an FSB of 800 MHz.
Would this be possible? Would the FSB of the processor just be limited to 533 MHz?
Processor with higher FSB than motherboard can support
cpufsbintel-pentiummotherboard
Related Solutions
Are you sure it's not just saving energy? Put some load with youtube HD videos and look if it doesn't speed up. CPU-Z will report the changes in real time. My core i5 goes from 1200 MHz to 2800 MHz every time it needs more speed.
Core 2 required a voltage regulator on the motherboard that was not needed for the Pentium D line of processors, all early 775 socket motherboards do not have this VR, which includes your Intel mobo, so no it will not work.
Best Answer
There are no CPUs that run on a 800MHz FSB that are on the compatibility list for that motherboard as far as I can tell. This usually means that the computer will not POST with the unsupported chip in.
Occasionally a motherboard will boot with an unsupported CPU, but I would be very cautious as this is usually unstable. In this case, the CPU would run at 533MHz FSB, which in-turn will lower the operating frequency of the CPU. If you need a primer on how FSB speed and CPU speed are related, you can read my answer here, which describes this in detail.