xeons on BX

[Frank Marshall]

Hi,

Saw a few P3 Xeons on eBay and I'm wondering whether they can ride on a regular slot-1 BX mobo. Probably different slot/pin array (non-socket 370) right? What about a slotkey interface card to slot-one?

Ta.

[Wombat]

Re: xeons on BX

Originally posted by Frank Marshall
Hi,

Saw a few P3 Xeons on eBay and I'm wondering whether they can ride on a regular slot-1 BX mobo. Probably different slot/pin array (non-socket 370) right? What about a slotkey interface card to slot-one?

Ta.

The motherboard is highly unlikely to support the Xeon. The chipset (not to mention the BIOS) has to be able to recognize the extra cache. It's possible, but I'd say your odds are pretty slim.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

Yea... different slot. If I recall correctly the Xeons use a slot called "Slot 2".

Besides, getting a new motherboard + a new P4 / K7 may be even more cost effective with much higher performance boost (300W PSU recommended...)

[Pace]

Yeah, and I think i450GX was the preferred Xeon chipset.

Xeons were Slot 2, and I can't remember if there were Socket 370 Xeons (anyone?), they might have went straight to Socket 603/608 (or whatever 600-odd number it is ).

As for convertors....very much doubt it, there was not a big enough market for this really. The only similar thing I know of is the Supermicro adaptor which let you put Slot 1 CPUs in their Slot 2 boards.

[MultimediaMan]

Pace is right...The Slotted Xeons are a different form factor.

There are a few Slot 1 Intel 440GX-Based motherboards (I own a Tyan Thunder GX 100), but never any Slot 2 440BX Chipset boards...the prime difference between the BX and the GX is higher memory handling capability (1 GB unbuffered or 2GB ECC for the GX vs. 512MB Unbuffered or 1GB ECC - Most BIOS will support the use of unbuffered RAM all the way up to the limit of the chipset.) and support for cache memories up to 4 MB per processor.

P3 Xeons were only sold as Slot 2 devices with 256K Cache.

There are two flavors of Socket 603/604 Xeons...Hyperthreading Xeons are Socket 604 (I'm not recommending this, but reliable sources indicate that the 604th pin on a Socket 604 is merely a keyed pin, and can be clipped off if you have a Socket 603 Mobo with a Hyperthreading-supporting chipset and BIOS.)

[Jizzler]

Uhh...

The word you're looking for is Registered or Buffered, not ECC.

Slot 2 P3 Xeons were released with 256K, 1MB, and 2MB.

Foster-core Xeons (socket 603) had Hyperthreading disabled.
Prestonia-core Xeons (socket 603 = 400Mhz, socket 604 = 533Mhz) have Hyperthreading enabled.

[KvHagedorn]

MMM has it pegged. Look for a 440GX motherboard with dual slot2s while you're on eBay. It's a great chipset.. pretty much just like the 440BX, only improved. You will need to get a dualie motherboard, since I don't think anyone made a single. I own a Tyan Thunderbolt board with two normal P3s and 512mb registered ecc memory running Windows 2000. It's the most stable Windows machine I've ever seen.

[Maggi]

just to confuse everybody, actually there were a few P3 Xeons built and sold in Slot1 design ... I know a guy that runs an Asus P2B-D with two of those.