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Forge64 · 03-31-2008, 05:08 PM

Actually, the Compaq R3120 does not use Socket A. While the CPU most commonly configured is called an 'Athlon XP 3000+', it's actually a castrated K8 core. This CPU has 256K L2, AMD64 disabled, and one core. It runs on Socket 754. It doesn't appear to be easily upgradable. Compaq sold it with three different CPU speeds that I can find: The XP 3000+ (1.6GHz 256K in the R3120), the 3200+ (2.0GHz, 512K in the R3140) and a 3400+ (2.2GHz, 512K CTO only). All models used the same hardware, so the motherboard and BIOS on the R3120 *do* support other CPUs.

That's all the good news. Now for bad:

It only supports ONE very specific flavor of Athlon64 3200+ and ONE Athlon64 3400+. There were many. AMD made a 'DTR' or DeskTop Replacement CPU for laptops(81W), a 65W 'Mobile' Athlon64, and a 35W Low Voltage Athlon64 Mobile. The R3120 supports ONLY DTR laptop Athlon64s. It will NOT run the standard Desktop chip, and it will not run the Low Voltage or 'Athlon64 Mobile' chips.

It's a mess. Don't bother even trying, a faster/newer laptop would be cheaper and less work than trying to track down an ancient Athlon64 3200+ DTR.

I did quite a lot of work finding out what would and wouldn't run in the R3120's 754 socket back when I bought mine, a few years back. I could get regular desktop chips to boot when the laptop was on AC, and they'd stay running once unplugged, but they would not start from shutdown on battery alone. They also ran down the battery far faster. Basically, the R3120 battery doesn't have enough juice to cold start a desktop CPU. The Mobile and Low Voltage cores would not even boot, with AC nor battery. It's not a happy situation, and there is zero chance of ever having anything dual core in there.

03-31-2008, 05:08 PM	#3 (permalink)
Forge64 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 1 OS: Gentoo ~AMD64 2008.0	Re: Compaq presario r3000 cpu socket help! Actually, the Compaq R3120 does not use Socket A. While the CPU most commonly configured is called an 'Athlon XP 3000+', it's actually a castrated K8 core. This CPU has 256K L2, AMD64 disabled, and one core. It runs on Socket 754. It doesn't appear to be easily upgradable. Compaq sold it with three different CPU speeds that I can find: The XP 3000+ (1.6GHz 256K in the R3120), the 3200+ (2.0GHz, 512K in the R3140) and a 3400+ (2.2GHz, 512K CTO only). All models used the same hardware, so the motherboard and BIOS on the R3120 do support other CPUs. That's all the good news. Now for bad: It only supports ONE very specific flavor of Athlon64 3200+ and ONE Athlon64 3400+. There were many. AMD made a 'DTR' or DeskTop Replacement CPU for laptops(81W), a 65W 'Mobile' Athlon64, and a 35W Low Voltage Athlon64 Mobile. The R3120 supports ONLY DTR laptop Athlon64s. It will NOT run the standard Desktop chip, and it will not run the Low Voltage or 'Athlon64 Mobile' chips. It's a mess. Don't bother even trying, a faster/newer laptop would be cheaper and less work than trying to track down an ancient Athlon64 3200+ DTR. I did quite a lot of work finding out what would and wouldn't run in the R3120's 754 socket back when I bought mine, a few years back. I could get regular desktop chips to boot when the laptop was on AC, and they'd stay running once unplugged, but they would not start from shutdown on battery alone. They also ran down the battery far faster. Basically, the R3120 battery doesn't have enough juice to cold start a desktop CPU. The Mobile and Low Voltage cores would not even boot, with AC nor battery. It's not a happy situation, and there is zero chance of ever having anything dual core in there. Last edited by Forge64; 03-31-2008 at 05:12 PM.