TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[lexluthermiester]

I always get nostalgic watching, working, or even talking about these things!

Same here!

 

[Trekkie4]

IMHO, Slot-1 was unique, "cool" and inventive way of handling the CPU!


I feel sad they've left it behind so early, as Slot design had a lot to offer. Especially because of Intel's reaction, when Slot 1 failed to meet the marketing needs. Essentially, they've tried to convince people how S370 is the "future", even though only yesterday they've moved away from Socket 7 which was "ancient history". When you think about Socket(s) 7 & 370 from today's point of view, they are essentially the same as current platforms. OK, so Intel CPUs no longer have the pins, but AMD does. AM2/2+/3 platform is in fact very similar to Socket 7, except it uses retention bracket to hold the heatsink in place, where on the other hand Slot-1 had that unique & futuristic look which was never repeated again.

Come to think of it, Slot-1 was the ONLY platform where you could easily swap the CPU cartridge "on the fly", without having to remove the heatsink & re-apply TIM (and wipe the old one)

 

[lexluthermiester]

IMHO, Slot-1 was unique, "cool" and inventive way of handling the CPU!

Completely agree! It made upgrades, swapouts and troubleshooting an absolute breeze! Actually miss it.

Slot-1 was the ONLY platform where you could easily swap the CPU cartridge "on the fly"

Not true! There was Slot2 and AMD's SlotA.

 

[Trekkie4]

Completely agree! It made upgrades, swapouts and troubleshooting an absolute breeze! Actually miss it.


Not true! There was Slot2 and AMD's SlotA.

You're right, totally forgot about Slot A. But I disagree on Slot 2 as (to my understanding, at least) Slot 1 = Slot 2, except the S2 was for meant, designed for professional usage (with Xeon processors). AFAIK, it was never introduced to "consumer" grade hardware. Which essentially makes it Slot 1, just with more bells & whistles.

 

[Athlonite]

You're right, totally forgot about Slot A. But I disagree on Slot 2 as (to my understanding, at least) Slot 1 = Slot 2, except the S2 was for meant, designed for professional usage (with Xeon processors). AFAIK, it was never introduced to "consumer" grade hardware. Which essentially makes it Slot 1, just with more bells & whistles.

Slot 2 or SECC 330 was used for PII and PIII Xeon cpu's as Slot 1 SECC 242 couldn't handle the full speed of the Xeon CPU cache but that was the only reason for Slot 2

 

[lexluthermiester]

But I disagree on Slot 2 as (to my understanding, at least) Slot 1 = Slot 2, except the S2 was for meant, designed for professional usage (with Xeon processors).

They were electronically incompatible.

AFAIK, it was never introduced to "consumer" grade hardware. Which essentially makes it Slot 1, just with more bells & whistles.

While that was generally true, it didn't take much for the general consumer to get a single or dual Xeon if they wanted it. A single P2/P3 Xeon was compatible with Windows 98SE which is what made them appealing to high-end gamers because the performance increase of the larger cache.

but that was the only reason for Slot 2

Also incorrect, see below;

The CPU is the one mounted on top. The extra chip on bottom was a system interface controller that helped the CPU manage and map larger amounts of system ram and other resources not found in consumer grade equipment.

 

[Trekkie4]

They were electronically incompatible.

While that was generally true, it didn't take much for the general consumer to get a single or dual Xeon if they wanted it. A single P2/P3 Xeon was compatible with Windows 98SE which is what made them appealing to high-end gamers because the performance increase of the larger cache.

Also incorrect, see below;
View attachment 129483
The CPU is the one mounted on top. The extra chip on bottom was a system interface controller that helped the CPU manage and map larger amounts of system ram and other resources not found in consumer grade equipment.

You misunderstood my post from yesterday. I wasn't suggesting that Slot 1 & Slot 2 are electronically compatible, just that both of them are the same "family", which essentially makes them the same. As I said, Slot 1 was targeted for consumer-grade hardware (including gamers), where on the other hand Slot 2 was introduced to meet with professional requirements & needs.

Things might had been somewhat different in the States, but I remember the 90s, when I got my Pentium II... Even the most powerful (gaming) model available, "Star Gate" as they called it didn't include the Xeon and/or Slot 2 boards. Instead, it had a "standard" Slot-1 mobo with (I believe) 450MHz Pentium II and 128MB RAM. Mine was second to previously-described best - it was called "Open Space" and had 350MHz PII with 64MB of RAM along with 3dfx Voodoo2 and we bought it for the price of around $2,250.

I don't even want to imagine what, or rather how much would Slot 2 board with Xeon CPU cost back then, probably a fortune! Either way, not something you'd expect to find under someone's desk, for playing Quake 2, Need for Speed III, Tomb Raider and/or Half-Life

 

[MaxiPro800]

Found these two at the dumpster, both working. The Soyo board I might need to change one of the capacitors.

Soyo SY-6VBA133 w/ Katmai 500MHz

Whole PC with Gigabyte 7N400, Athlon XP 2500 Barton, Radeon 9600 128MB, 512MB RAM, no HDDs, and a 52x ASUS CDRW drive.

PSU isn't original to it. It originally had some ultra-gutless PSU that used the tiniest fuse I've ever seen. The one I installed was personally recapped and upgraded by me, and provides a safe 250W of power.

 

[Trekkie4]

Awesome stuff! Always makes me happy to see yet another Slot-1 rig saved from the dumpster!

As for the Gigabyte board, I used to have something very similar, except it was S478 layout. Board was giving me problems, so I flashed the BIOS (hoping it would resolve the problem) and the entire thing froze during the flashing procedure, rendering the entire motherboard useless. Which is kinda absurd for Gigabyte boards, as most of them have two BIOS chips, in case something like this ever happens. In fact, the one I flashed had a dedicated area, empty space for the 2nd chip, which was obviously not installed/used for that particular model. And the other (only) one was soldered directly into the board, it didn't have a socket.

Pretty much all of my "current" S775 & AM2+ boards are Gigabyte branded, and I'm glad to say that I've never, ever had a problem with one of them. In fact, I would strongly recommend them!

 

[MaxiPro800]

Awesome stuff! Always makes me happy to see yet another Slot-1 rig saved from the dumpster!

Yeah, it's only the board. I couldn't bring myself to carry the monster case it had, and it was also beaten up to smithereens. Oh, and no harddrive. All the other components I used to test it (FX5500 128MB and PSU) came from other sources. The FX came from a Skt 478 machine and the PSU came from a Core2Quad Q9400 machine.

There's also a stripped screw right next to the front panel that somebody tightened it so hard that not even the strongest pliers I had could remove.

 

[Trekkie4]

Yeah, it's only the board. I couldn't bring myself to carry the monster case it had, and it was also beaten up to smithereens. Oh, and no harddrive. All the other components I used to test it (FX5500 128MB and PSU) came from other sources. The FX came from a Skt 478 machine and the PSU came from a Core2Quad Q9400 machine.

Nah, what's the point... There's tons of beige cases around, widely available for next to nothing (if anything, at all - most people are giving them away because they no longer blend-in with black components) And you can easily source the hard drive, as well. Alternatively, you could try with CF card to IDE adapter, to form old-school SSD drive. Not sure how reliable something like that would be, but most people reported good results.

 

[MaxiPro800]

Nah, what's the point... There's tons of beige cases around, widely available for next to nothing (if anything, at all - most people are giving them away because they no longer blend-in with black components) And you can easily source the hard drive, as well. Alternatively, you could try with CF card to IDE adapter, to form old-school SSD drive. Not sure how reliable something like that would be, but most people reported good results.

Yeah, it wasn't worth it, although it was a weird specimen that had both a Turbo LED and a Suspend button, separate from the power button. Even the motherboard has a special header for a suspend switch.

 

[Trekkie4]

Yeah, pretty much all motherboards back then had a Turbo LED header, because most people upgraded from the older hardware (Socket 7), which still had & used Turbo LED feature. And instead of the Turbo Switch they've introduced suspend switch, I believe some models also had a "Green Switch" but I'm not sure if those two are one & the same.

In fact, some boards kept on recycling Turbo LED feature all the way to S478, except they've renamed it into "Message LED". Asus P4B was/is one of them, I clearly remember hooking up the Turbo LED on my MaCase tower into Message LED header.

 

[MaxiPro800]

 

[dorsetknob]

at least it boots so far.........need to fit moor hw to go further

 

[MaxiPro800]

at least it boots so far.........need to fit moor hw to go further

Got a Voodoo3 3000, boatloads of PC133 SDRAM, and a few vintage HDDs such as the Quantum Fireball 15LCT, as well as a 20GB HDD from the IBM I did a overhaul on (a Netvista 6578 I posted a few pages back) but that one is pretty loud from itself.

Still need to find a drill to remove that stubborn screw near the front panel, and replace most of the caps. There's a weird issue where the front panel won't work unless I short the green and black wires once. I suspect the Wendell caps being dead, but can't blame them for being near 20 year old caps. It might be a great opponent to my other VIA 693 based machine, which sports 2x 10GB Xbox drives and is powered by a Acorp 6VIA81P board with the same VIA 693 chipset. That one was recapped with Rubycon/Panasonic caps tho.


Anyways, it will be a great project to work on before moving on to the EP41T-DS3R once it arrives. I already have a Q9400 for it, just need some more DDR3 sticks

 

[8BitZ80]

I've actually been in the market for a Slot 1 Pentium 3 Katmai processor+mobo and I've been searching for days.
On Ebay they're damn expensive (I'm in Aus so there's shipping too), meanwhile the Pentium 4's (and Socket 370 Pentium 3's) are being sold for peanuts.

Guess I'll need to ring some computer recycling centres and ask if they have anything, let alone will even allow anything to be accessed by the public :/

 

[Mr.Scott]

Board shipping from the US to AUS is about $45 average. I ship there all the time.

 

[8BitZ80]

Board shipping from the US to AUS is about $45 average. I ship there all the time.

I guess it's a similar cost for posting Slot 1 processors as well, because if anything the shipping is just as high!
Anyway, I contacted one recycling centre in the area that lets visitors through, so I'll duck over there today and see what they have.

 

[Trekkie4]

Well, the bad news is that Slot-1 prices are on the rise. Which is to be expected, I guess ... they're not getting any younger, and they are obviously no longer in production. In other words, what is left of them is either sold to hardware collectors & enthusiasts or getting destroyed & recycled.

On the other hand, you might want to grab a S370 board &/or Pentium III because those are next in line, waiting for their "big moment". Joke aside, whatever you pay for a decent S370 now will double its value within next couple of years. And more ... at some point these things will be worth a fortune!

 

[8BitZ80]

Well, the bad news is that Slot-1 prices are on the rise. Which is to be expected, I guess ... they're not getting any younger, and they are obviously no longer in production. In other words, what is left of them is either sold to hardware collectors & enthusiasts or getting destroyed & recycled.

On the other hand, you might want to grab a S370 board &/or Pentium III because those are next in line, waiting for their "big moment". Joke aside, whatever you pay for a decent S370 now will double its value within next couple of years. And more ... at some point these things will be worth a fortune!

Yeah, I should snag a few of them while they're cheap.
I'm honestly surprised that processors like the Pentium 4 HT Socket 478 and Pentium 3 Tualatin Socket 370 haven't gone completely nuts in price yet. You'd think that everyone and their brother would be seeking out those high-IPC single core chips for their "ultimate" builds.

 

[MaxiPro800]

They're getting pretty scarce here in Romania too, although I'll admit you can find the CPUs here pretty cheap, due to literally nobody caring anymore about them. Hence why most of the Katmai chips I have (excluding a literally free 650MHz Coppermine Slot1 I found) were either at a ridiculously cheap price or even free.

 

[8BitZ80]

They're getting pretty scarce here in Romania too, although I'll admit you can find the CPUs here pretty cheap, due to literally nobody caring anymore about them. Hence why most of the Katmai chips I have (excluding a literally free 650MHz Coppermine Slot1 I found) were either at a ridiculously cheap price or even free.

Sounds nice. I had at least six Slot 1 processors back 12 years ago, most of them I bought at the dump refuse store for cheap.
But the big mama jama was an XP Kayak XM600 workstation that I got for $20 and I'd installed two 500MHz Slot 1 Pentium 3 processors. Wasn't super powerful, but it was epic to have an almost-free dual-processor system way back in '07. You noticed the speed difference too, versus a single processor.
Then eventually I lost interest and sold everything to fund another project, which was quite regrettable looking back.

Luckily I did take some pictures at the time, so it's not all bad:

Spoiler: Pictures

 

[lexluthermiester]

Sounds nice. I had at least six Slot 1 processors back 12 years ago, most of them I bought at the dump refuse store for cheap.
But the big mama jama was an XP Kayak XM600 workstation that I got for $20 and I'd installed two 500MHz Slot 1 Pentium 3 processors. Wasn't super powerful, but it was epic to have an almost-free dual-processor system way back in '07. You noticed the speed difference too, versus a single processor.
Then eventually I lost interest and sold everything to fund another project, which was quite regrettable looking back.

Luckily I did take some pictures at the time, so it's not all bad:

Spoiler: Pictures

View attachment 129566

View attachment 129569

View attachment 129572

That was a Rambus based dual Slot1 board! I would have slapped two P3 1ghz cpu's, 3GB 1066 RDRAM into it, added a good GPU and called it good for a few years, BITD of course.

 

[Trekkie4]

Sounds nice. I had at least six Slot 1 processors back 12 years ago, most of them I bought at the dump refuse store for cheap.
But the big mama jama was an XP Kayak XM600 workstation that I got for $20 and I'd installed two 500MHz Slot 1 Pentium 3 processors. Wasn't super powerful, but it was epic to have an almost-free dual-processor system way back in '07. You noticed the speed difference too, versus a single processor.
Then eventually I lost interest and sold everything to fund another project, which was quite regrettable looking back.

Luckily I did take some pictures at the time, so it's not all bad:

Spoiler: Pictures

View attachment 129566

View attachment 129569

View attachment 129572

Oh wow, now that's a rare unit! I actually got the same thing, but different speed. Kayak XU800, from what I can tell it's in perfect (mint) condition! I also had (well, I still DO, but it doesn't work) a Visualize P-Class workstation, which suddenly stopped booting up and/or responding to anything. A shame really, it has a pair of 1GHz CPUs inside, two voltage regulators, 1GB of SD ECC memory and nVidia Quadro2 AGP card! Not to mention the SCSI gear, which is to be expected on a system like that.