I-Appliance BBS The Official Source for Internet Appliance Upgrades and Mods Click Here! BBS Main List | Sign In | Sign Up | Search | Help | Linux-Hacker.net Reply to Thread | Printer |

Home / I-Opener Areas / I-Opener Technical Stuff K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering!

K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) thecounts Profile | Email I just picked up an Evergreen Technologies Spectra 333 processor upgrade at one of my favorite "computer junk stores" for $40. Here's what's really cool about it. 1) Its based on an AMD K6-II 333Mhz processor 2) It has a REMOVEABLE heatink with a 5v fan. The heatsink is kind of tall - but I've got a few old low-profile heatsinks around I can put the fan onto. 3) It has a stepdown regulator to get the voltage down to 2.2v. The regulator adds about 1/4" in height, so even with a low profile heatsink/fan I may still have to cut a hole in the case in addition to the RF shield. If so I'll probably just use the taller heatsink that came with it & let it protrude from the case for better cooling 4) It looks like the fan can be plugged right into the regulator. The fan leads have one of the 4 pin floppy drive type female power connectors on it and there's a 4 pin male header with the locking tab (that matches up with the floppy drive type connector) right on the regulator's PCB. 5) Here's the best part - the processor can be SEPERATED from the stepdown regulator. I had to start prying the processor out of the regulator's PGA socket a little bit at a time slowly and carefully with a thin-bladed utility knife until I got enough gap between them to use my old 486 chip extractor, but once I got the extractor on it the chip came right out. The reason that this excites me so much is that I already bought a K6-III 333Mhz. Since the K6-II and the K6-III are both marked for 2.2v core and 3.3v I/O I can't see any reason why the K6-III shouldn't just snap right into the regulator. The regulator as some jumpers to set it up for a MoBo supplying anything from 1.8v up to 3.2v and a clock multiplier of 2x - 5.5x. The manual only mentions FSB speeds up to 66 Mhz, but I can't see any active components that might be frequency sensitive so I think it should be able to handle 83, 95, or maybe even 100 Mhz. If this turns out to be the case, it may even be possible to put in a K6-III 450Mhz or a K6-II up to 550Mhz. I think this may be the best way yet to upgrade an I-O up to a K6-II (or better yet a K6-III) without any soldering. I'll report back on how it works in a couple of days once I've had a chance to give it a try (assuming anybody shows some interest). Speaking of interest - anybody out there got a V4b or V5 (with the voltage regulator switch) who might be interested in buying a K6-II 333Mhz chip for a reasonable price? Hopefully I'll have one I want to sell in a couple of days ;) 04-11-2001 20:36:10

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) mp3boombox Profile | Email i wouldnt get your hopes up PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!! You'd be lucky to get a standerd AMD processor much more then 50mhz over clocked. EVEN THEN they are roasting hot!! and a low profile heatsynk/fan combo WILL NOT do the trick. The NON moble k6-2/3 processors are VERY HOT operating processors. If you want to run a k6-2/3 processor mcuh more then 50mhz OC you have to do some mod's to the CPU and posably use water cooling. the MOBLE k6 line of processors are an unbelievable over acheavers when it comes to over clocking. If i had a mother board to TEST just how well the thes processors can OC I would. To be honist with teh TEMP'S they run at with the DC-DC I'd be prity SHURE with extra cooling someone can run one of these processors at 650 to posibly 700mhz. Dont forget chipmakers DOWN clock there processors for stablity. There is a certian p3 700e chip, I forget the serial number but it runs at 1000mhz on a standerd heatsynk/fan for a p3. err a golden ORB AND THATS ALL. any thing much more then 1050mhz and it reqires more cooling. Hence the processors are UNDER RATTED to make shure there stable after HOURS AND HOURS of use. The only real danger to over clocking is the HEAT. This i DUE to the increase in power flowing thew the processor. If you go to fast the processor just cant keep up. for an example on my k6-3 running at posibly 650 or 700mhz thiery using a DC-DC the proccsoor runing at 600mhz was ratted at 120f i believe i forget. Well thats using a TENNMAX fan wich only has heat SYNK's on the outer perimtter. and some stub's under the fan. Now that makes for tarable over all heat synking due to having a limated AREA being cover. Now with much better proper cooling and posable removing the HOT cap from the processor. and using direct core cooling so it would look like a tbird i thindk?? or fcpga processor. http://members.panax.com/bachh/ My EZnet 200 tower, hacking page. 04-12-2001 13:49:50

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile I picked up about a dozen of these Evergreen Spectra "Drop in upgrades" Clearanced at local Fred Meyers back in Nov 26 for $25 Ea.+tax. The fan is 12V and a real Cheapo... Ended up selling all but 2 on my employers "Want ads(for sale stuff)" web page (I work for a huge company) for about $80-85 ea. One will have to cut a hole in the back of the i-Opener for clearance of the socket adapter, Cpu and fan assy. Also need a 5v and 12v supply to power the CPU adapter and fan. K6-2+ for $30 is a much better deal in my opinion. http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=whatever&Post=1525&Idle=0&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session= 04-12-2001 18:28:55

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Correct that to October... 04-12-2001 18:33:08

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Thats the K6-2+ 450mhz for $30+ is a better deal posted elsewhere on this BBS 04-12-2001 18:37:41

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) thecounts Profile | Email mp3boombox - Whoa, slow down a little there pardner! I guess I wasn't clear enough when I did my original post. I'm not talking about overclocking a 333Mhz to 450Mhz. Fact is I don't believe in doing any thing more than very mild overclocking (no more than about 10 % MAX). In my experience doing "major" overclocking usually requires doing a lot of work for small performance gains and you usually sacrifice some of your system reliability and longevity in the bargain. What I was saying is that since you can remove the processor from this step-down regulator, and it is jumperable for so many different voltages and clock rates, it MAY be possible to use it to install a 450Mhz processor. I agree with your statement about most standard AMD processors having a pretty limited amount of overclocking potential. However, just as an FYI, the k6-III 333Mhz that I said I want to try with the regulator isn't a "standard" K6-III. It is one of the mobile "AFK" versions that you seem to like so well. 02U2 - When I said this upgrade came with a 5v fan I wasn't making some kind of assumption - I was stating a verified fact. The ones you bought at Freddy's may have come with a cheapo 12v fan, but I double-checked this one before I bought it. The leads from the fan connect to the RED and BLACK leads from the four pin floppy drive-type power connector. Now, the last time I measured the voltages on the wiring harness in MY computer the red was +5, yellow was +12 and black was ground. Once I got it home I removed the screws and took the fan off of the heatsink. The sticker on the bottom says "Evercool 5v .15a BALL BEARING brushless DC fan". I'm not familiar with the Exercool brand, but the rest of that info sounds pretty good to me for use in an I-O. As for cutting a hole in the case and having the fan, and maybe even some of the heatsink sticking out - I'm not so sure that's such a bad thing. It may not look too pretty, but it should help keep things cooler by pulling outside air into the case. Of course it would be a good idea to try to put some kind of filter around it possible to reduce the buildup of "dust bunnies" inside. C'mon guys, gimme some credit here. Just because I've asked "the group" some questions doesn't mean I'm some kind of completely clueless computer newbie. I don't want to brag or come off like I think I know it all, because I obviously don't, and the last thing I want to do is tick you guys off and end up being shunned or flamed by the group. I've got a B.S. in Computer Engineering, an MCSE, 10 years general computer experience, and 3 years experience as an on-site PC & Network Service Tech. What I don't have is you guy's EXTENSIVE experience and knowledge about hardware hacking - especially on the I-O. 04-13-2001 17:21:57

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) BadFlash Profile | Email Several of the bios software experts seem to think that 333 is the booting limit due to the bios and that to get beyond that you need to use PowerNow! to software shift the CPU multiplier. I'm not convinced that is the case, but that is the experience I've had. I just saw a post that one fellow was able to boot at 66 X5.5 or 366. I'm going to give that a shot and see if I can duplicate it. We may be able to get softFSB to boost up from there. It may be that CPU's with cache can handle softFSB better. Don't know. There may also be some secrets to using softFSB. I know K6's don't like some frequencies, but seem to like 66Mhz and 100Mhz. Could be some FSB changes are more tolerable than others. 04-13-2001 19:55:56

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile thecounts, Sorry, I didn't mean to get you all riled up dude... You must have a later revision of the Evergreen then. All the ones I purchased had a real cheap 12v fan and heatsink arraingement. Unless your revision cpu adapter socket has been totally redesigned there still should be a requirement for 12v along with 5v power source to the cpu adapter socket on that floppy type header you mentioned. If so this will require a separate split 5v/12v input power source just for the cpu adapter socket alone...I seriously doubt the existing i-Opener internal power buss is capable of suppling the much needed extra current to run the spectra. I don't like the idea of using 2 separate power adapters to run the i-Opener. One could obtain a different 18-19v power adapter that supplies more current (3+a) and then split the voltages down accordingly... 18v, 12v, 5v. I originally was going to use the Evergreen 333 adapter on 2 of my i-Openers but decided that using the k-6 III+ 450 @300mhz and tennmax 5v fan was a lot less hassle and cooler. The stuff I do on my i-O's don't really need 450-500mhz... 04-13-2001 23:07:25

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) mp3boombox Profile | Email I am inclunded to bleave him IF that processor is a moble processor on a socketed over drive. OR just a straight power converter. because they do make different version of them. I my self was looking into getting one for a p1 233 processor so i could add DUAL 233's to my linux box. The system as is can only clock upto 166mhz or 333mhz total via the dual processors'. but the regulators cost $50 each. that shot that idear down prity fast. If thats an AFK chip and your using a v4 with a sw4 why on earth use the converter socket??? 04-14-2001 08:12:07

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) thecounts Profile | Email mp3boombox - You know that there are two variations of the V4, right? With one of the you are absolutely right. A V4b with the SW4 has no need for the regulator. That's why I'm offered to sell the K6-II 333 chip to someone with a V4b (or a V5). However, my I-O is a V4a. It has everything the V4b has EXCEPT for the SW4. 04-14-2001 08:29:00

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) BigDog Profile | Email thecounts, What's the good word on the Spectra 333 ??? Is the K6-II 333 a drop in replacement if you have a V5 ? 04-18-2001 19:36:56

RE:K6-II or K6-III 333Mhz with no soldering! (modified 0 times) Linuxguru Profile | Email Slightly off-topic, but I found a fairly detailed technical reference for the AMD K6-3D (aka K6-2) on closeout at Micro Center in Santa Clara for $2.99. This is generally better for programming information than the .pdf files from AMD. It also has signal descriptions, etc. They have a few copies left. Also, they have various other specials, including optical mice (the ones that work on any surface) for $9.95. 04-19-2001 21:58:43

Reply to Thread | Printer | All times are PST Powered by UltraBoard v1.62

I-Appliance BBS General - NEWS, Breaking NEWS - linux-hacker.net BBS on CD Questions - User Groups in Your Town - E-Bay, Yahoo Auction LINKS ONLY (MODERATED) - Jokes & Humor - usdtv box I-Opener Areas - I-Opener General Posts - I-Opener Technical Stuff - I-Opener Technical Info Reference (MODERATED) WebSurfer Areas - WebSurfer General Posts - WebSurfer Technical Stuff - WebSurfer Technical Info Reference (MODERATED) Other I-Appliances - Virgin Webplayer - WebPal - MailStation - 3Com Audrey - ThinkNIC / Oracle NIC - Gateway/AOL Connected Touch Pad - Philips/AOL-TV - ACER NT-150 STB - MSN Companion - Compaq IA - Emachines IA - IBM NetVista IA - Intel dot.station - MSNTV2 Network Computers - Fujitsu-Siemens Scovery Linux Net Computers - GallantWeb Server Consoles - Dreamcast - xbox hacking Web Pads - Epods One General Post - Panasonic CF-01 - Fujitsu Stylistic 1200 - Cybiko Thin Clients - Thin Clients DigitalVideoRecorders - DTV Recorders, Replay, TiVo, Etc... - Tivo Hacks Linux - Midori Linux General Board - ITX MotherBoards Single Board Computers - Earth Computers mARMalade Elite Member Area MISC Areas - The Swap Meet WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY TRANSACTION HERE AND NO COMMERCIAL POST PERIOD !!! - Wireless Net - Cameras - Robotics - Routers/Gateways - Mattel JuiceBox