Running Dual Pentium III FC-PGA CPU's on the BP6.

[kuun]

you can do dual p3 but a few mods need to be done first

the EC10 mod should be done and any/all buldging or leaking caps should be replaced first

derek has some p3 mod notes somewhere i'll see if i can find the link.. it is possible.. you just need to do some modding

[kuun]

go here

viewforum.php?f=50

and check out the original dual p3 notes first then check out the mod #2 both posted by derek

[mariner]

I just wanted to update this thread with a final note. After a LOT of support and help from the PL tech, Paul Langtry, I requested a RMA for the adapters. I'm not going to do the mod at this time, maybe later. PL didn't balk a bit, I got my RMA right away. I just wanted folks to know that PL has good support.


mariner

[InactiveX]

Good to know.

[onelegdis]

Would some of the old guard like to comment on the quality of PowerLeaps Support!!!!! Broken promises seem to spring to mind!!!!

[mariner]

I'm not "old guard" around here but I know good support when I see it, and have been a contributing member in the Anandtech forums since 1999. I would guess that in my 50+ yrs on this earth that I have done more than my fair share of purchasing and dealing with vendors.

Paul set up his BP6 in the lab and tried to get it too work. He also consulted with his engineers who said it would not work DP. He even sent me a BIOS to use (not that I couldn't find the latest version). And he visited the Anandtech thread I had started. Then he offered to mod any BP6 for folks who wanted to use the PL adapters. That's way better than average support in my book.

mariner

[InactiveX]

A lot of people got very upset a few years ago.

IIRC, powerleap said their adaptors would work in SMP. They did, but only with certain motherboards. From the responses I remember, the Abit BP6 was not one of them.

I remember being advised against getting an adaptor to update my 486 motherboard to a Pentium Overdrive. Since then, I've always used a CPU that was intended to run on the MoBo it was meant to.

YMMV.

[onelegdis]

Mariner , “better than average support” is a matter of opinion!
In “my book” it means being able to acknowledge clear mistakes a company made 4 years ago!
The “old guard” on this site contacted PowerLeap with the exact same problem then!
They “seemed” to be very helpful and then hung us out to dry!
The issues you have been having are the same we all had 4 years ago!

PowerLeap said it was possible and the people on this site proved them WRONG!
It is well documented on this site as well as others, that PowerLeap never got there adapters to work reliably in SMP(with or with out there mod ) on the BP6!(Without additional board mods)

I find it farcical that their support guy ran through the whole SMP thing with you, when they know from the past that it isn’t gonna work!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want good advice on the BP6, look here.
If you want to be lead up the garden path! Call PowerLeap!

[mariner]

onelegdis, all good points. But in this age when it's not uncommon for emails to go unanswered, I still think what I got was above average support. And, I think it very possible that the tech I dealt with was not aware of the problems with the BP6.

Anyway, you're right, this is THE PLACE for BP6 anwsers and I appreciate all the advice I was given here. Thanks folks.

mariner

[tfasth]

Hmm... that is really wierd you guys got all those problems with the C-mine to work on BP6 in single mode.

I've got orginal board with no modifications made(except for a couple of broken Caps) and single P3-800MHz@882MHz(110MHz FSB, 1.70V), and can almost boot to WindowsXP at 992MHz(124MHz FSB, 1.90V). Locks up in the login screen.

I'm using the Roby 2 bios at the moment, and have 2 x Apacer PC133 256Mb CL2 mem modules installed.

MBM5 shows that all voltages are 0,1-0,2V higher than they should be, maybe I got lucky? But the Vcore high/low differ with 0,1V and that is too mutch I think so the next thing I will do is to do the Vtt-Fix MOD.

Just need to find a second P3 and then I will make the required mods for dualing also.

Actually I have 3 BP6 boards and the first one is a little bit unstable now because I had a leak in my Water cooling system a couple of years ago. And now I can't figure out where the problem is. On that board I've made all the mods that Yoshiro shows in his tutorial, but still doesn't work as good as it should be.

To onelegdis: I love your signature, especially the sign that tells you the IP and ISP name... I Want One Too
I even played around with Opera, and changed what kind of browser it identifies as, and it works really well.

[Snugglebear]

I've not had any issues over the years with a single P3 in my BP6. That it's a revision .40 board may have something to do with it, as the only required mod to the power system was replacement of the 100uF cap at EC10 with a 1500uF part. After that, the jumper wire from AN15 to N33, and the powerleap, it's been stable for years. Running in dual with a second P3-850 has been successful for a long time as well, without much in the way of voltage fluctuations.

However, after several years of this one of the jumper wires on the back of the socket began to pull away (the machine has been moved quite a bit over the years) and it finally fell off when I took the board out for inspection. It was trivial to solder it back on and secure it with some hot glue, but now the voltages are beginning to swing wildly with two chips in the board. Given that this didn't happen before, I can only imagine the VRs are beginning to head south, perhaps from age. Since LM338Ts are nearly impossible to get ahold of, it looks like the board is going to be wall art soon. Supermicros are, fortunately, easier to find than VRs.

[tfasth]

my board is a rev0.41 and is stable as a rock though without the mods.

but it's still just in single cpu mode, can't wait to see what happens when I do the socket mod and connect a second cpu.

[hyperspace]

...but now the voltages are beginning to swing wildly with two chips in the board. Given that this didn't happen before, I can only imagine the VRs are beginning to head south, perhaps from age...

maybe bad capacitors?

[Snugglebear]

I check for that every 4-6 months on all my boards. No sign of leakage or puffed cases. That doesn't guarantee that they're working fine; the only way to check for sure is to pull them all off and test each one individually, which is not something I'm keen on doing.

[_65536_kb_sec_]

OK OK
after all i still don't know if I can run on my DEFAULT BP6 Dual Pentium III - 800Mhz
sorry for the question but i'm too stupid
edit:
ooooooopss
sorry again but how do u think
which ot the mod's that are listed is the most stable mod
Yoichiro's BP6 Modification Guide
or
Anton Tomov's BP6 Modification Guide ??????
edit:

[mariner]

Wowsers, a blast from the past

_65536_kb_sec_ I can't really answer your question. However, before I returned my Powerleap adapters their tech offered to make the mods for me if I sent my BP6 to them. I declined the offer so I am not sure what mod they would have made. I guess you can call them.

I do still have my 2 matched PIIIs if you would like to buy them. I've been meaning to eBay them but have not had time.

--
mariner

[davd_bob]

With a Neo S370 I believe you can run a uniprocessor copermine, but you have to play with the bios to get the voltage low enough that you don't blow the P-III. Come to think of it you may have to change a voltage regulator.
I suggest you use a diff board for the P-III if you are going in uniporcessor mode.

[trowakage]

I know this is an old thread, but I followed Derek's instructions and managed to get 2 P3 1ghz to run on the BP6 w/o any adapters, although they are only at 750mhz at this point as I still need to implement the CLKREF circuit, and replace the caps (especially EC10).

I couldn't for the life of me get the pins to unsolder from the socket as instructed, so I just ended up breaking the pins on the processor instead (not like I needed to make sure they would work on another board or something, this is the only S370 setup I've got).

One thing of note, you have to modify BOTH sockets at once. I tried to modify just one to see if I could just run a single P3, it didn't post. It worked after I modded both sockets and stuck the 2 P3's in there (I'm running the modified RU bios with HPT 1.25).

Everything is stable thus far, running the thing with a GF4 TI4200, and an ATX1.0 spec 400W PS (plenty of amps on the 5V rail). Luckily I don't suffer from the VTT problem as much (I have a Niko-made Q6 regulator rather than the dreaded Unisem).

I don't know if anyone would be reading this, but what are the chances that a BP6 will run at 133FSB after recapping?

I am also looking for a "platinum orb", more or less a generic plain aluminum knock-off of the golden orb. I already have one, so I want to find a match one for esthetics.

[InactiveX]

Hello trowakage, and welcome!

Sounds like you're making good progress there, do keep us updated. Great to see new people on the board, especially if they're willing to mod their BP6s!

You don't stand much chance of getting to 133MHz FSB. The BX chipset just isn't up to it, especially in SMP.

One of our long-standing members, Holodeck2, got to 133MHz FSB, but that was running two Celeron 366s at 733MHz. He used water-cooling, peltiers, and a lot of ducting.

Good luck!