Gary Thorpe <gathorpe79@yahoo.com> writes:

> Shouldn't the most important factor be the bus speed, since all newer
> x86 cpus have an internal clock which differs from the bus clock? Since
> SMP does communication at bus clock speeds, why should differences in
> the internal clock speed matter? Although different varieties may not
> interoperate properly, why should running using a 800Mhz PIII and a
> 700Mhz PIII be problematic if both use identical bus specifications
> (these two in particular may not have identical bus specifications, but
> the question is regarding the case that two cpus have diffeent internal
> speeds but have the same bus specifications)?

Two devices running at different speeds should be assumed to be
different revisions of the silicon and therefore potentially speak
subtly different versions of the bus protocol, unless you have very
good information otherwise.

> If it really won't work, anyone know why not?

Almost all of this is not "really won't work" but "not guaranteed to
work, if it breaks you get to keep both pieces".

        - Nathan