# I have a new Ender 3 - what motherboard does it have? **URL:** \ **Category:** 3d Printing / Slicers / Setup / Problems\ **Created:** [February 5, 2021, 11:54pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983 "2021-02-05T23:54:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mac-7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Mac-7](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Mac-7)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 11:54pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/1 "2021-02-05T23:54:31Z")
My board is V4.2.2 I just received it today Is this the 32 bit motherboard? If so does it need a bootloader installed or does it already have that? Also is thermal overrun protection enabled on this model or not? ---
**Author:** ![Ender5r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ender5r](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Ender5r)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 11:59pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/2 "2021-02-05T23:59:57Z")
Yes, it is a 32-bit board, but not the newest: that’s the 4.2.7. Yes, it already has a bootloader. In fact, you update the firmware by copying a BIN file to the SD card, inserting into the printer’s slot & turning the printer on. The new BIN file should be the only file on the SD card. Thermal runaway is not a function of the control board per se. It’s part of the firmware. The OEM firmware on the 4.2.2 almost certainly has thermal runaway implemented. ---
**Author:** ![Mac-7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Mac-7](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Mac-7)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/3 "2021-02-06T13:59:01Z")
Thanks Teaching Tech on YouTube has a very good video on the new board [![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/makewithtech/original/2X/7/794b5f03207881f153d4333d6e3e3e5f3d841173.jpeg "Creality 32 bit V4 board guide - Ender 3 V2, BLtouch & more") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neS7lB7fCww) this is the same board that comes on the V2 with the exception of no silent stepper drivers ---
**Author:** ![Ender5r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ender5r](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Ender5r)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/4 "2021-02-06T15:12:10Z")
The 4.2.2 doesn’t have silent stepper drivers?? That’s a major surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Mac-7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Mac-7](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Mac-7)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/5 "2021-02-06T15:14:15Z")
Not according to the video by Teaching Tech. But v4.2.7 does. ---
**Author:** ![Ender5r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ender5r](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Ender5r)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/6 "2021-02-06T15:17:49Z")
Wow. After Creality stopped making the 1.1.4 board, I would have thought they wouldn’t make any future boards without silent drivers. FYI, the 4.2.7 boards are relatively cheap, so it’s not a big expense to get the silence. ---
**Author:** ![Gramps](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.makewithtech.com/gramps/32/60_2.png) [@Gramps](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Gramps)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/7 "2021-02-06T15:57:49Z")
My Ender 3 v2 has the 4.2.2 board and it has the silent steppers. ---
**Author:** ![Ender5r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ender5r](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Ender5r)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 4:06pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/8 "2021-02-06T16:06:47Z")
That does make more sense to me. Hard to imagine making a new board without them TBH. ---
**Author:** ![Mac-7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Mac-7](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Mac-7)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 11:21pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/9 "2021-02-08T23:21:17Z")
Teaching Tech goes into some detail on the new 4.2.2 and 4.2.7 boards and according to him a plain Ender 3 4.2.2 printer could have the silent steppers Or the noisy 4988 steppers Go to about 3:25 for that info the link for that is in post #3 just above Of course that could have changed since he posted that video and maybe all Ender 3’s have the 32-bit motherboard with silent steppers now One thing you can be sure of with cReality is that we can never be sure of anything ---
**Author:** ![Ender5r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ender5r](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Ender5r)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 1:50am UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/10 "2021-02-09T01:50:27Z")
If the video is more than 6 months old, the 4.2.2 could have the older drivers. I imagine they continued making 4.2.2 boards with the 4988 drivers until they ran out of them, then started 2208’s or 2209’s, or maybe even newer. ---
**Author:** ![Mac-7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Mac-7](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Mac-7)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/11 "2021-02-09T02:51:01Z")
I agree. Things may have changed in 6 mo. My 4.2.2 board is not loud so I suspect it may have the quiet stepper drives. Wha5 I am trying to dind out now is how to add a filament runout sensor. The firmware must be updated but creality is not open source so I cant use the factory firmware. Unfortunately the 3rd party sources such as TH3d are confusing to use. I’m sort of stuck ---
**Author:** ![Ender5r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ender5r](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Ender5r)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 4:04am UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/12 "2021-02-09T04:04:08Z")
AFAIK, Creality just uses Marlin. They just configure it to what they feel is correct for their printers. That said, I don’t recall seeing source code provided by Creality, although I may not be recalling correctly. Yeah, if you’ve never done any programming, you may have some difficulty getting your head around configuring Marlin. Mind you, TH3D Unified Firmware is 1 of the easier ones to configure & use. I would look at Youtube for help with how to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Mac-7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Mac-7](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Mac-7)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 1:38pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/13 "2021-02-09T13:38:51Z")
I am going to rely on Dr Vax as usual along with another YouTuber named James to walk me through to process of compiling Marlin 2.0 and flashing it to my printer both do a better job of explaining it than Tim at TH3d [![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/makewithtech/original/2X/d/dec5f3663bf5b4976107239ee8ce80f42306a089.jpeg "ENDER3 4.2.7 SILENT BOARD UPGRADE FIRMWARE - PART 2 INSTALLATION - BLTOUCH 3.1 - MICROSWISS DD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTuyJmPPZ_M) [![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/makewithtech/original/2X/6/6379d3cd459c51e27db544906ff5938acde4fe7d.jpeg "Marlin 2.0 Build and Install | ANET ET4/5 | Ender 3 V2") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPDBNBgdW6o) and all of this because I want to add a filament runout sensor to my printer ---
**Author:** ![Ender5r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ender5r](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Ender5r)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/14 "2021-02-09T16:20:44Z")
Yeah. Tim is very knowledgeable; maybe too knowledgeable to have the ability to simplify the process for initiates. OTOH, his knowledge level allows him to create versions of Marlin for others to use. ---
**Author:** ![Mac-7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Mac-7](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Mac-7)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/15 "2021-02-09T16:54:32Z")
> [@Ender5r](#): > > Yeah. Tim is very knowledgeable; maybe too knowledgeable to have the ability to simplify the process for initiates. OTOH, his knowledge level allows him to create versions of Marlin for others to use. Yeah, if you can understand how to use it I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer and I need simple instructions even the Dr Vax version was challenging because he covered two different printers on one video I was just getting comfortable with the Arduino IDE to compile 8-bit boards when someone threw the new software program into the process ---
**Author:** ![Ender5r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ender5r](https://forum.makewithtech.com/u/Ender5r)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 6:08pm UTC](https://forum.makewithtech.com/t/i-have-a-new-ender-3-what-motherboard-does-it-have/2983/16 "2021-02-09T18:08:56Z")
I do feel for people who are, in my thinking, being thrown into the deep end of the pool. I have computer/programming/IT experience from as far back as the 60s, which is obviously a big advantage when dealing with Marlin. But, my wife & youngest brother have little IT experience, so I’ve had many instances where I was asked to help them understand/troubleshoot/configure technology. I’ve seen the confusion & frustration 1st hand many times. Thank goodness for YouTube, where it’s possible to find things explained in different ways by different people.