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Home / I-Opener Areas / I-Opener Technical Stuff Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta

Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) IndianChief Profile I own a PC shop in Indianapolis and always like to experiment with things. I just picked up an I-opener on ebay with the I-MOD2 hard drive mount and the BIOS chip from badflash.com. I believe it is version 4, as it is equipped with the Rise 266 processor. We dropped in a 6.4gb Toshiba notebook drive, a 64MB SODIMM and loaded up Windows ME. It wasn't too bad. We happened to have a Kingston Turbochip 400Mhz in stock. This chip does not require any Bios upgrades or anything, just drop it in a socket 5 or 7 system and you are set. They can be had for about 99 bucks. We popped in the chip and it worked! The only problem we have is the chip REQUIRES a 4 pin hard drive power source, most likely +5 for the voltage regualtor. We were using an external ATX power supply to feed the chip, and we kept the back off because the chip is taller then the lasagna cooler. Being I got a D in EE class in college, I have really no way of figuring out how to draw power to the chips +/-5 and +/- 12 from the iopener. But if someone could figure out how to hook up a standard IDE 4-pin power lead, they could just punch a hole on the back of the iopener shell and drop in a 400mhz cpu. BTW it really helped the system, as a whole, even the scrolling in IE 5 was MUCH better. Windows ME even reports it under system cofig as an AMD 400Mhz. 04-19-2001 20:39:03

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile I think you may have to power the turbochip using a seperate power supply... such as one from an old External SCSI CD rom drive enclosure or something like that? (Fab your own casing) From reading previous posts may moons ago the i-Opener supply is rather limited in current supply. If I remember correctly Turbo3? or? toasted there supply doing some O\C with AMD Cpu. 04-19-2001 21:00:39

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) * StarFish * Profile http://www.sproggy.com/ Iopener / Getting 12V in the I-Opener I would be Surpirsed If The Wall Wart Can Handle All of This. I would think about a Larger 19VDC Supply. Watch Connecting Multitable Power Supplies !!! (Your Adaptor must be Isolated? for this to Work) Plenty of Horror Stories If You Want To SEARCH for Them. 04-19-2001 22:14:53

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Okay so Obviously, there is a space issue with the chip, but Im seeing these for as little as $60 and thats a big deal if you actually got it running at 400Mhz. so how exactly did you power it again? With an ATX power supplys 4-pin connector? Well I know that the wall wart (as we refer to the I-openers power supply around here) probably wont be able to handle the load but maybe we can get a recommendation from our 12v pals millenium_falcon and mp3boombox?what do you say guys? Any ideas? this thread has info on getting 12v into the I-op, but theres not much info regarding a 12v and 5v source from the power supply. 04-20-2001 06:47:04

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) IndianChief Profile It worked perfectly - We ran it for over half an hour like this, hooked it to our network and everything. here is how we did it : We plugged in the processor to the socket, leaving the back off the unit for clearance. We have a power supply tester that will allow us to power on an ATX power supply without a motherboard. We then took the 4-pin hookup off the procesor, plugged it into the ATX power supply, then plugged in the I-opener and presto, a 400Mhz AMD K6-2 machine. Like i said it worked perfectly, windows ME shows it as a 400Mhz AMD! 04-20-2001 07:39:23

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) BadFlash Profile | Email If you use a mobile K62 processor and the mods listed in the tech ref section here, you can go to 450Mhz with the back on the unit and run from the standard power supply. K62P is $40 and the power supply parts are about $15. 04-20-2001 12:19:31

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Awesome, Have you tried getting the chip off the 12v off the board as described here? there appears to be 12v on the Mobo there, unfortunately its always on. you'd have to figure that one out, its an old thread and I dont know if anyone figured out how to shut it off when the I-o shuts off. Im no expert, so I wont make a suggestion as to how to do this! 04-20-2001 12:34:00

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Just couldn't resist...I picked up a Turbochip 400 yesterday (couldn't find it less that $95). Here's my proposal for a neat combo setup...external full-size hard drive and power supply. I've got an external parallel port hard drive enclosure(cost $39). It works in Win98 but not ME, so I haven't been using it. I'll remove the parallel port connectors, connect the drive up with a Badflash IDE 44 pin cable and a 2.5/3.5 adapter, tap into the power supply for a set of leads to power the Turbochip. The power supply in this enclosure is big enough to supply enough current...I've already tried it with a cdrom attached. These external drive boxes are readily available...cheap. Mine has a small fan, an activity lite on the front, and it's not very big. I've seen at least one post about an IDE cable as long as 6 feet. Now I'm wondering if this setup will handle a K63-450+. This would be the easiest hack around....giving you a fast I-Opener without any board mods, plus a cheap large hard drive, easily removable. As a bonus you would no longer have to worry about heat problems on q16 or the cpu. Any feed-back? 04-21-2001 04:36:31

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email I agree CKbone, this mod would be perfect, BUT, do you think it would be possible to pull 12v off the board as I described above? I know the 12v remains constant, but wouldnt that be a bonus towards the onboard fan? 04-21-2001 08:28:42

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) BadFlash Profile | Email I would be astonished if it could provide enough current. Most of these powerleap style boards require 3-4 amps at 12volts. Most on-board 12V regulators are no more than 1 amp. Seeing as how this is likey for the video unit, pulling of that kind of current would likely slag something. I think CKBONE has a much safer idea. 04-21-2001 08:44:20

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile GWIZAH....Badflash is right....I wouldn't waste any time trying to power this adapter off the board. First time you fired it up, it would smoke something. I don't have my Powerleap yet, so I don't know if it requires both 5v and 12v. If it only requires 12v, you could power it with an external supply of some sort, without using a computer power supply. Remains to be seen... 04-21-2001 09:23:45

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Okay CKbone, I know Im not an electronics genius but the specs located here say this thing (the turbochip 400) runs on 23.7 watts meaning that at 12v it would only need 2.0 amps, I dunno if that info is accurate though, but the power supply idea that indian chief used seems like overkill. I think Im gonna look for a smaller unit similar to what Badflash described. 04-21-2001 16:36:52

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile If it draws 2 amps...for sure you can't get that much off the stock I-Opener PS. The power supply in my external box is 50 watts. Should be plenty to handle the hard drive and the Turbochip 400. I think badflash sells a small PS about this size. The PS in my box is completely enclosed, separated from the hard drive by a metal panel, and both it and the hard drive are cooled by a small fan. Its already put together... looks OEM, goes with the I-Opener pretty well. When I get all the pieces, I'll post pictures and info in the How-TO topic. 04-21-2001 17:00:29

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) BigDog Profile | Email I just bought one too, from Computers 4 Sure 68.99 + 5.75 shipping which is: http://www.solutions4sure.com/product.asp?productid=92151&affid=2467&adid=2467 and according to UPS tracking it should be here this coming Tuesday. For good pricing on computer parts, check out http://www.ibuyer.net/ it's good! I just found http://www.pcstop.com/product_detail.asp?ProdID=431539 for $66.00 Would this be a good use for Badflash's 5-12 volt power supplies he is selling on th IO page?? I am picturing the power supply mounted in the base along with the standard IO power supply with only one common 110AC plugin ?? There are a lot of folks like me who are scared of heating up parts of their i-Opener's and fear it won't work after the smoke settles..... :) 04-21-2001 18:10:48

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile BigDog, Thanks for the latest info on the Turbochip 400. There is a PCStop retail outlet about 2 miles south from where I live. Hope they honor online prices.... I just picked up 5 free IBM 166MHZ POS PC's and looks like these may work as a cheap 400Mhz upgrades, 04-21-2001 19:14:26

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Yeah, Badflash would itbe possible to use one of those small power supplies you have to do this mod? Id definitely be interested in finding that out. O2U2, good score! where was that out of a DD mission, Damit, just thoughgt id share this with you guys, I hate typing on a sub minature keyboard!!!! This mini keyboard is so anyoing, good for the car though 04-21-2001 20:14:39

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile I just uploaded some pictures of this external hard drive/power supply setup: http://photos.yahoo.com/ckbone63123 Take careful note of picture #5....There is a power connector attached to the 2.5/3.5 adapter. DO NOT CONNECT THIS TO ANYTHING. Tape it up or cut it off. It must not be used in this setup. The power connector you see in #7 is actually tapped into the power supply wires from the internal power supply. This connector will attach by means of an extention cable to the Turbochip 400. The Ide cable connector also shown in #7 will attach to a Badflash 44 pin ide cable, from there to the board. I'll figure out the length later. This setup is not working yet (I'm waiting for the chip), but I have no doubts it will. I have yet to finish up the final setup, but you get a general idea here. There is no name on the box...got it at a computer show. But I see these things at shows all the time...about $40. 04-22-2001 12:26:30

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) shaxs Profile | Email Hello, I too am using an external case to house a hard drive ect. It use to have a tape drive in it. Was the same exact size of a hd so it fits perfect. Never thought of using the power supply to power a cpu upgrade. Good thought. Check out my shots of my case. http://photos.yahoo.com/shaxsy . You can get a used external tape drive off of eBay for real Cheap. Between 10-20 buxs if you look right. -Jason 04-23-2001 00:00:22

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) old_dog Profile A long time ago (over a year, can you believe it) a guy by the name Joe @ Procooling.com put together a version 2 (I think) using the powerleap adapter. The overall installation was rough but worked. Based on the participants in this thread I believe a more elegent solution can be worked out. He also participated in these forums if you want to do a search, but the basics are all in the article. Below is a link to the article: http://www.procooling.com/articles/html/page11420.shtml Here is a link to justdeals.com which has old "Smart & Friendly" external CDROM cases for $20.00. We have on of these old units at work and there high quality but are large and heavy. But I'm sure they'll give you the needed parts to start with. Link Below: http://store.yahoo.com/justdeals/smarfrienexs.html I've been sitting on three v2 for about a year waiting for a some badly need cash and confidence. The perfect I-Opener configuration for the Hacker/confidence challanged like myself would be: Powerleap adapter - externally powered Hard drive & CD drive - Externally housed and powered I figure I need a nice base unit with a HD & CD that would power the drives the powerleap and the I-Opener. Then I would only need an IDE cable to the Base unit and two power cables to the I-Opener. I'll Be watching this thread with High hopes. Thanks guys, for all the info. 04-23-2001 09:51:46

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Look....I've been thinking about other setups using this external PS idea. How about this: I'll pull the M-Board out of an unused Websurfer I have. That'll give me a power supply that will probably be able to run the Turbochip, plus a hard drive and a cdrom which will now fit into the gutted websurfer case. The I-Opener will sit right on top of the websurfer....the whole thing still being a small package. This setup would not require a very long IDE cable.....there may still be enough space in this case for other hardware. If you used laptop parts, you could cram in a lot of stuff. Humm...... 04-23-2001 17:51:52

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Well....I got the Turbochip 400 today. I got a temporary setup to see if it worked ok...it did. This is on a V4b, 64meg micron, IBM 8gig hard drive, Win98se. I used a hard drive I had that was already setup. It booted right up with no BIOS changes. Here are the sandra benchmarks at the stock 400mhz....CPU 709, FPU 480. Using SoftFSB at 420mhz (max it would take).....CPU 745, FPU 498. This same board with a Pentium 200 running at 210mhz benchmarked CPU 422, FPU 237. This is an impressive increase....considering it requires no board mods, it should work on all I-Opener versions, and you should have no heat problems, particularly on q16 since the board itself is not being over-clocked. Also I think these numbers can be improved since this Win98 build is old, and I know a number of new tweaks I have yet to try. Ok....here's the negatives. This thing is bigger than a stock chip with a Lasagna fan. It extends down toward the stand mount. It will not be a bolt-on mod. The plastic mount will have to be cut slightly....It looks like the upper screw mount hole on the cpu side (that's the one in the steel plate riveted to the shield) will have to be cut away. I think the stand will be ok with three screws....I'll have to think about this. Also....the fan is glued to the cpu. I don't know if it's removable from the CPU without trouble. The CPU itself may be permanently attached to the adapter board...can't tell. Replacing the cpu with another one looks difficult. Besides, there is no apparent way to change the voltage if you had to. The fan on the thing is very quiet....much quieter than a Lasagna. I don't have this whole setup assembled....you will have to cut a hole in the shield, the plastic case, and partially into the back mount. In other words, it's not a bolt-on mod....but it's close. Will the whole thing be worth it? What do you think? No solder, no heat problems, works on all versions, doubles your CPU performance, no technical experience necessary....go for it...... 04-24-2001 10:31:01

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email awesome CKbone, Im gonna go grab one right now! Thanks for the info! 04-24-2001 11:41:31

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile I found another external case/power supply buried in my computer junk pile. This is a SCSI cdrom case....the PS is 50watt. I think this is the one I'm going to use. It's not as big as a Websurfer case and already has the right holes in it. http://photos.yahoo.com/ckbone63123 Using a laptop hard drive, a laptop cdrom, a small powered USB hub, there's still room left for a USB LAN device or whatever. This hub works on 5v so I can power it with the internal supply. There's a fan blowing down, and the already cut holes (the SCSI connectors are removed) are the perfect size for the hub. There's even an extra AC outlet. With this setup, the cdrom and hard drive are powered through the 44 pin IDE cable, so there should be no problem getting enough current to run the Turbochip. I'll have to get another cable from Badflash....but that's it. I'm ready to finish this setup....I think I got this case several years ago from Comp Geeks.....about$20. It had the older SCSI connecrors...SCSI 1 I think. They look like a printer connector. The over-all IDE cable length will be about 4 feet or so...this is my only concern....I've heard of IDE cables as long as six feet....we'll see. 04-24-2001 13:32:41

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile Here's an alternative to a Turbochip.....It should be faster because of the chip. It's more expensive...maybe worth it. Anybody know of a source at a reasonable price? http://www.powerleap.com/PL_K6_III.htm 04-24-2001 14:28:27

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) old_dog Profile I did a search for pricing on the turbochip. I found nothing on Pricewatch, but on computershopper a search yielded 14 resellers with four listed below 70 bucks. This is a very economical upgrade. I checked at the Powerleap site (This is the adapter used by joe at procooling)and you can purchase the adapter alone for 50 bucks. Powerleap claims you can install K6- 2+, K6-III, or K6-III+ CPUs. Which would provide a whole lot more flexibility. I have no electrical engineering background, so I was wondering if there is a way to hack a single 40-50 watt Power Supply to power the drives, CPU adapter, and the base I-Opener? Another thread "DC - DC Stepdown regulator for CPU Mod" sounds great but is still to challenging for me. 04-25-2001 06:53:47

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) BigDog Profile | Email $64.53 + Shipping at Provantage http://www.provantage.com/scripts/go.dll/ibuyer/fp_46152 04-25-2001 21:43:56

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) BigDog Profile | Email I am looking for a power supply to install on my IO for my TurboChip, the book states that the maximum power consumption is 23.7 watts. I am looking at Jameco catalog (Thanks Badflash!) and trying to pick out a power supply for it. Does anyone know where the biggest current draw is, on the 5 volt or 12 volt sides?? I can pick a PS that has more amps on the 5 volt side if the only thing the 12 volt does is drive the fan. This makes sense to me, it would be easier to step the voltage down from 5 volts than it would be from 12. Anyone have any ideas or know were I can get a more technical reference for the TurboChip's voltage circuit?? I want to get the smallest PS that I can, but it needs to be big enough in watts to power it. 04-26-2001 19:12:13

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile OK....I finished the chip install and case mods. Here's the pictures: http://photos.yahoo.com/ckbone63123 No problems with the chip at all...it runs cool, as does the m-board. q16 remains cool to the touch....no reason why it should get any hotter than stock. Overall I'm very pleased with the setup.....A k6-III probably would be faster, but this chip runs good...beats a winchip all to hell. 04-29-2001 07:07:32

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) ckbone Profile FWIW....Here's a free utility you can use to check your cpu, it also measures temps, provides a software cooling utility, complete with alarms. Seems to work on a variety of systems.... http://www.powerleap.com/download.htm 04-29-2001 07:17:30

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) old_dog Profile For those still interested in a Turbochip they have them in stock at Solutions4Sure. Back in April when this tread started I waited too long to order one and it has been a real pain to find them. Apparently Kingston has discontinued them. Here is the link: http://www.solutions4sure.com/product.asp?productid=92151&affid=2467&adid=2467 Mine is on the way. If this works well I'l probably order two more. I also have the Compaq docking station on the way from firesale: http://www.firesale.com/cgi-bin/firesale/scan/st=db/ml=20/sf=%3a%2a/su=yes/op=rm/tf=cat/to=f/tf=price/to=n/se=310250%2d001?id=29Kb4UPH Firesale has this great deal in which they keep lowering the price till the items are sold. I monitored the site till the docking station was down to $15.47. It took about a month. At that point I had very little to lose and I bought one. Right after I bought it the price went back up to $36.00 where it is today. I'm stiil hoping there is enough power available in the docking station to tap it for the Turbochip. We'll see! 07-23-2001 11:49:49

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) old_dog Profile Here is a great deal on the TurboChip http://www.solutions4sure.com/Product.ASP?ProductID=92151&Affid=3442000 $29.95 is too good to pass up. I ordered 3. This is by far the simplest V2 goop upgrade. I still have that pesky "what do I do for a permanent power supply" problem. 08-07-2001 06:23:05

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Thanks for the info Old_Dog! You are right, The price is too good to pass up! I ordered 2. Went from 44 in stock the last time I looked and now it's down to 37 in stock.... 08-07-2001 15:59:51

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) dvfagan Profile | Email They are going fast. I just got two with 23 left. 08-07-2001 16:53:49

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) old_dog Profile There all gone! That was quick. 08-09-2001 08:57:37

RE:Installed a 400 Turbchip and it worked fine - sorta (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile My 2 finally showed up today from Solutions4Sure! Selling one at work for $70, Keeping the other. 08-15-2001 21:30:54

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