Upgrading a PII...can i just stick in a PIII?

[chiggachu]

I want to upgrade the CPU on my dell pII 350 system...some people told me that a processor upgrade like evergreen's performaIII would work, and others told me that i could just buy a new PentiumIII processor and replace my old PentiumII. Which of these methods is best, and what would i have to do to my system to upgrade it? do i need to change the bios or whatever? help me PLEASE...either private message or just reply to this one

 

[Poof]

You may be able to do it with some of the older katmai-based PIIIs, eg., the 450 - 500 (and I think maybe 550 based on what a few have told me). Those would run at the same Vcore as your PIIs. A BIOS upgrade would hopefully be available to get the correct CPUID for it.

If you want to try a PIII cumine, then you would need a newer BIOS that supports it and/or have some ability (either on the mobo with jumpers or via a slocket) to step the voltage down (default for cumine = 1.65V or 1.7 for the highest ones) to handle them.

 

[smp]

I would think that you need a new motherboard.. what kind of RAM you have in there? I'm pretty positive you need SDRAM and I don't know what kind you got in that system... what's a 'evergreen's performall'??? The bios is part of the motherboard.. I don't know much about PII's.. but I'm pretty sure that they run on different boards... anyone else that knows more????

 

[bliab]

Heya.. I'm in the process of doing almost the exact same thing with a Dell Precision 410...

First thing, as poof said, is to get a bios update- goto support.dell.com, enter your service tag or system model and goto the downloads section and grab the most recent flash bios update (these usually come as annoying executable which wants to unpack itself onto a floppy). Read through the release.txt file and see if it says anything about PIII's. Mine has stuff like "Support newer steppings of Pentium III Processors." dated 2/16/00. Hopefully you've got something similar. If so run the bios update and then try and figure out which PIII to get.

The early PIIIs that poof suggested are the most compatible as they run with the same voltage as PIIs. These PIIIs all have the larger (and slower) 512k cache and come in speeds from 450 to 600 MHz.

The newer coppermine PIIIs run at a lower voltage which your motherboard may or may not be able to supply. If you can locate any documentation that states that your motherboard can supply 1.65v then you can get one of these in the 'slot1' cartridge. These CPUs come with 256k full speed cache in speeds 600MHz+ in 50MHz increments, look for the 100MHz FSB (front side bus) versions as there are 133Mhz FSB ones (I'm not sure how different the 2 versions are)...

Myself, I was was not able to find much documentation on my motherboard, but I have a good feeling that my old system cannot do 1.65v. I'm gonna try to get a 'socket 370' PIII 750 and a socket 370 to slot1 converter which has some voltage control on it (the 'slocket' that poof mentioned). I'll be ordering them in about a week (after payday- yay!) so if you want you can wait to see if I have any success with this...

Good luck!
bliab

 

[gtd2000]

Poof,
Just a quick note here - do you know what "Poof" is in coloquial English?
Knowledge is strength.

 

[Compuguru]

What Poof said.

 

[Poof]

Just a quick note here - do you know what "Poof" is in coloquial English?

Uh oh....

(/me sees something coming... )

 

[RickH]

Bliab---The adapter will not make a motherboard that doesn't support the Coppermine voltages suddenly produce a voltage lower than 2.0 volts. The adapter only allows you to set the voltage within the range of voltages the motherboard normally allows. The adapters have no voltage regulators. R.

 

[bliab]

Rick,
Do you have a link to a review or technical document that states this for 2nd generation converters like the Iwill's slocket II? I was told the opposite when I asked this earlier.

I know 1st generation converters did not alter voltages, but cannot find any clear evidence (other than the reply to my earlier post) that newer ones can or cannot. Reviews I read tended to suggest that they could or could not, but none were clear on this point.

Thanks,
bliab

 

[EightSecClub]

I believe the 350 mhz was 100mhz FSB and if so means its a BX chipset. You should have no problem with any 100 FSB. Either Slot 1 or Flipchip with a Slocket. Go to dells sight and check out the Web Talk Forum there will be alot of folks there that have already done what your talking about.

 

[RickH]

Bliab---I have the Iwill II. I e-mailed Iwill with the same question. I was told it has no voltage regulator. Send them a mail and see if you get the same answer. Rick.

 

[Poof]

RickH, as I understand it, there ARE some slockets that have VRMs, eg., some of the Powerleaps...

A friend had an older model PL that let you step voltages through various settings... A newer one he mentioned, had less manual settings but still had a VRM.

In fact, here is the latest model with VRM, from the main page of PL's website.

 

[RickH]

I would love to be wrong. I checked your link and it looks good. Now the only issue is the cost. The PowerLeap site wants $50, I didn't see it on Pricewatch. Rick.

 

[Poof]

Yeah - that price was a butt-kicker. But I guess it would be a bit cheaper than buying a brand new mobo with either BX, Via Apollo, or 815, etc., chipsets!

(unless one finds a cheaper used one on fleabay or something...)

 

[bliab]

Mmm.. The Powerleap does look good, but it looks like the improvements they intend to make in revision two are worth waiting for..

Also, in my continuing webhunt I turned up a rather interesting page on upgrading Dells here.

I did not see a date on the page but the information looks fairly current, and according to this guy the only slocket that currently has VRM is the powerleap.
There appears to be a yet to be released (in the US at least) Iwill Slocket III pictured back here at Anandtech that also will have VRM. However the guy writting the page seems to think Iwill is not very intereted in releasing the Slocket III.

The page also included a link to an Intel list of approved and unapproved slockets for PIII. Oddly the page is dated Aug 2000 and states that the Iwill Slocket II is not approved, but the Iwill Slocket III is. The Powerleap is not on either list.


bliab

 

[Poof]

Update - just got a tip from a thread on Ars that an Abit sloket III has a VRM... I haven't had chance to check it out but anyone who's interested may want to give it a look...

 

[bliab]

Unless that's a new revision of the Abit slotket III, I don't think it does. All the photos I've seen (here
and here)of it don't seem to have the direct PSU power connector onboard like the powerleap and Iwill III do..

bliab

...in fact Tom says it cannot right here.