Dual Intel PIII worth it?

obviouslytom

obviouslytom

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Feb 24, 2005
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At work today they are going to be throwing out an old Dual Intel PIII 600mhz system and I will be given the option to take it home.

My question to everyone is would the system be worth it? Maybe just a file server? Render slave?

The pc is a Gateway ALR 7200. It should have 1gb of ram in it, SCSI and IDE connections.
 
Hell, if you don't want it, i'd pay for shipping if you wanted to send em my way. I love a good dual box.
 
well, the IT guy let me crack it open.

It has 1 SCSI hard drive, IDE cdrom, tape back up and floppy.

Only has 1 CPU in it with a dummy card and 128mb of ram.

I am thinking about passing it up and grabing some of the Dell workstations we have laying around in our warehouse.
 
What's wrong with both? :D

If it's got PCI-X (looks like PCI but longer) get it and use it as a file server. Pop a raid card in there (or a Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 and do software raid - yes, it'll handle it) and put it in the basement. Otherwise, yeah, I'd give it a pass.

 
If you decide to take it op I have some 733mhz p3's that I'd be willing to part with on the cheap.
 
Well the IT guy just dropped it off at my desk, so it appears that the Gateway ALR 7200 is mine!!!

I will look to see if there is some sort of bios update that will support a faster CPU then the PIII 600mhz that is currently in it.

now...what to do with the system
 
just started the thing up, and I was wrong about the cpu, its only a PIII 500mhz

At home I have 3 PIII's laying around and they are either 600mhz or 667mhz, I am not really sure.

going to look for a bios update for it which maybe allows a faster cpu

HAHA, it actually has a copy of XP isntalled on it
 
Nothing wrong with PII/PIII :D

I remember back in the day, when I started getting into computers, I bought a bunch of PII processors on ebay (a box of 25 i think?) and then I started building all kinds of dualie PII boxes....haha

Now, I am still addicted to SMP....

Anyways, does this machine take slot processors or socket processors? I could probably hook you up with some faster processors if you wanna pay for shipping...
 
yes it takes Slot 1 processors

and on the box it says "Gateway ALR7200" with a PIII sticker on the outside with a PIII 500mhz on the inside.

I have a 256mb ram thing at home for it.

draconius, what speeds to you have laying around?
 
I don't know off the top of my head, I will be home from college in a week (Friday) and I can let you know then. (I am pretty sure that all I have are 550Mhz PII/III's that are slot...I think the faster stuff is all socket processors.
frown.gif
) I will, however, look when I get home, and if I have some, they are yours.
 
One thing that I forgot to mention and I am guessing that it is rather important.

It says that for a second cpu, I need a voltage regulator that will go into this slot:

m00299318fl.jpg


The only problem is where do I find something like that? Or could I get it to work without it?
 
obviouslytom said:
One thing that I forgot to mention and I am guessing that it is rather important.

It says that for a second cpu, I need a voltage regulator that will go into this slot:

...

The only problem is where do I find something like that? Or could I get it to work without it?
Click to expand...

I dunno if thats a generic part or one that has to be purchased from the manufacturer. If you have to get it from the manufacturer, you might be looking at $$$... or, maybe this is just worry for nothing.
 
you can get the VRM's on ebay -- in fact, you might want to look for a set of processors with vrm's right on there...can't be that spendy i dont think...
 
Well here at home I have 3 Slot 1 PIII's.

Now when I look at the side of them, all of them say the following:

450/512/100/2.0V S1

Now I am assuming that it means that it is a 450mhz cpu, 512 Cache, 100mhz fsb running at 2.0 volts.

I am pretty sure that I could stick 2 of the cpu's that I have into the system without the VRM considering that I can not find one that works in this system on ebay.
 
You need a 5v vrm for the system, and you can't run the second processor w/o the vrm either.
I don't know if you can run mismatched processor in the server or not, I know if it was compaq you had to run matched processors or it didn't work. I'm not sure about some Gateway models, but I figure if it was the same speed, and fsb you could run it.

Look on ebay in the computer and networking area for: Celestica VXI Vrm, 5v vrm or vrm.
Or look upon google for these part numbers:
073-20742-30
073-20742-31
 
Thank you sir

**Edit**

So would something like this be exactly what I need? 073-20742-30
 
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obviouslytom said:
Thank you sir

**Edit**

So would something like this be exactly what I need? 073-20742-30
Click to expand...

Might be. Might not be. Recommend you get a solid part number off Gateway's site. Those are definitely 450MHz 512K, 100MHz FSB 2.0V CPUs. Funny thing; those should be Xeons. pIII 450's got 256K not 512K. Only the Xeons got 512K, and the 450/512K's are incredibly common. Easiest way to tell is the shape; if they're very square, they're Xeons. If they're rectangles, they're pII/pIII. If they're 450/512 Xeons, they'll likely also be Slot2 which is mechanically similar to Slot1 but electrically different.

Best advice I can give you is wait till you have the box in hand, and do more homework before buying anything. Make sure what model it is, check Gateway's part number listings (which are online, thankfully,) and make sure you get the right parts rather than wasting money. :)
 
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all the cpu's that I have sitting around are very rectangular so I am quite sure they are not Xeons, including what is in the system.

I have come across one website where the person lists what VRM's are available and there are two that are listed that said they work with an Gateway ALR 7300.

From what I am able to find, the ALR 7200 came standard with 1 cpu in it and the ALR 7300 came standard with 2 cpus in it.

Going off of this, along with everything that I can find, I can get the VXI-073-20742-30 VRM and be fine.

But then again I don't know since this is the first time I have ever dealt with this type of thing.

This is the website that I was able to find the VRM on http://www.rockhounding.net/projects/alr7200/
 
I have 2 dual P3 servers. One is a custom built 2xP3 550@620(Katmai), and the other is a Gateway 2xP3 733, that I upgraded to 2x1ghz. Both of them run great.
 
I had an old dual P3 ( 500 mhz x 2 ) that I had running as a server. That thing was great, very fast and stable. I gave it to my mom to use as a workstation. It runs great to this day.
The only thing I did to it was ditch the 4x60mm fans , and made a custom 120mm fan bracket to blow on the 2 heatsinks.
dual1.JPG

dual3.JPG
 
as soon as I can get that damn VRM, I will throw in 2 of the 450mhz cpu's that I have and then stack that thing full of hard drives.
 
Correcto, That is the right part number and right vrm for your server you have linked.
I do say that because I have a Alr 8400 in the basement awaiting a full conversion with same case to quad p4 xeon. The vrm used in the Alr 8400 is the same with the Alr 7200 it uses a 5v/12v vrm.

And to someones reply about the standard p3 having a 512mb cache, they do have them, not only on Xeons but on the regular p3 processors also. My dually Proliant has 2x 500mhz p3 processors with a 512mb cache.

If your interested in having one of mine, send me a pm.
 
Well I got the correct VRM, installed it and put in 2 PIII 450mhz. Now the problem I am getting is that the 2nd cpu is not showing up during the post and not showing in XP either.

Could there have been some jumper that I needed to set?

**Edit**

I was able to get the 2nd CPU to show up in XP however, on the exterior of the case there are lights for both CPU's and during the post, only 1 of them is active. Should I worry about this at all?
 
obviouslytom said:
Well I got the correct VRM, installed it and put in 2 PIII 450mhz. Now the problem I am getting is that the 2nd cpu is not showing up during the post and not showing in XP either.

Could there have been some jumper that I needed to set?
Click to expand...

Should not be.
And, *sigh*, for the umpteen billionth time. People do not comprehend how many VRMs there really are. Just because it's 5V/12V does NOT MEAN IT WILL WORK. This is simple technical fact. It's worse than the SIPPs. Thankfully, yes, looks like what's in there should work. But it's not working.
And also it's 512KB not 512MB. Why the hell would you think they would put 512MB on a CPU die?

I was able to get the 2nd CPU to show up in XP however, on the exterior of the case there are lights for both CPU's and during the post, only 1 of them is active. Should I worry about this at all?
Click to expand...

See above; this is a symptom indicative of incompatibility, most likely the VRM. Those LEDs should be actually driven by passthrough or off the VRM typically. Which means if it's not lit, you likely have a VRM issue. It could also be a faulty CPU, it could be a faulty VRM. Could also be a faulty board.

And I forgot to mention; DO NOT INSTALL ANYTHING IN THE ADAPTEC RAIDPORT. That's the long PCI-but-not-PCI slot. Anything installed in there will piss that board off something fierce.
(Ah, wistful memories of RAIDPort, one of the worst ideas ever.)
 
Oh AreEss, I figure that these Vrm's won't work also, I pulled them from my system and it also happens to be an alr server, which I pulled this part number from gateway 2000 website. It says that this is the proper vrm used in the Alr7200, Alr8200, Alr7300, and Alr8400: VXI-20770-01

This vrm slot looks the same as above:
vrm.jpg

The vrms were pulled from something like this:
bigmotherboard.jpg

and why yes there is several different kinds of vrms, the one I listed is the right one.
At least I had time one day, to go through 4 different phone numbers from Gateway to get the right part number, which is the VXI-20770-01. I do however have pinpointed my own troubles to the motherboard, 4x processors= trouble somewhere.

And here is the right part with another vrm from another server:
vrm2.jpg


Oh looking upon the gateway site, You can use a regular pci card in the raidport slot and it will work fine.

Since I have reread your problem and seeing that you have corrected the problem with the cpu's, I wouldn't worry so much about the Leds on the case. Anymore help let me know, I'll be happy to help.
 
Or, why not replace the board and get a P2B-D or P2B-DS from ebay (or from me, I have 1 spare DS boards). They are v1.06, the ones that support high clock P3s up to 1.4 ghz I think (certainly up to 1G).Could let it go cheap.

Let me know by PM if interested.

J.
 
if you had XP (any NT kernel really) installed with a single CPU, then any CPU's installed after will not be used by the OS, until the OS is installed with SMP.

in most cases if you had one CPU and added another (without re-installing your OS) a BSOD will come along.

the best idea is to get the fastest CPU's you are willing to spend $$$ on, and make that baby FOLD!! :cool:

and somewhere in this thread i read an incorrect statment and to clarify...Slot 1 PIII-450's did have 512k L2, it was not until the coppermine that the PIII received 256k L2, and they are easily identified. all S370 were Coppermine (later Tualatin). on slot 1 you can see if there are Cache chips on the PCB (to either side of the CPU on the "card", and of course by model. but that has nothing to do with Xeons Slot-2's which had many different cache schemes designed for requirements in servers.
 
ok...you cannot simply plugh in second (or more) CPU and have your MS OS (originally installed and config'd for uni-proc) use the second CPU...the OS needs to informed and config to utilize more than one CPU or one CPU will sit without any instructions being executed, and likely to cause instability in the system at best.

and PIII 450 thru 600's did have 512k of half speed L2, where as coppermines and tualatin's used full speed on die cache or 256k and then 512k respecitvely.
 
I have a pair of slot 1 650mhz sitting on my desk at work, I was going to use them for something, what exactly I don't know. If you're interested hit me up via PM with your zip and maybe we can work something out. Grats on the dually, they're loads of fun.

Definitely should fold on that =)
 
xxGriff said:
ok...you cannot simply plugh in second (or more) CPU and have your MS OS (originally installed and config'd for uni-proc) use the second CPU...the OS needs to informed and config to utilize more than one CPU or one CPU will sit without any instructions being executed, and likely to cause instability in the system at best.

and PIII 450 thru 600's did have 512k of half speed L2, where as coppermines and tualatin's used full speed on die cache or 256k and then 512k respecitvely.
Click to expand...
That was true, but Windows XP now has support for automatic switching of hals. So.. swap in more cpu's and a reboot or two and you'll be up and running.
 
I'm not so sure about the originally linked VRM being the proper one.
obviouslytom said:
So would something like this be exactly what I need? 073-20742-30
Click to expand...
From the rockhounding.net site, it shows it as a different part altogether. (Link to the page about the ALR7200 and 8200 boards)

Note the differences in bold:

Celestica PN: 20742-30
VRM Spec = 8.2/8.3
Vin = 12
Vout = 1.3 - 3.5
Iout (Amps) = 16

Celestica PN: 20770-01
VRM Spec = 8.2/8.3/8.4
Vin = 5
Vout = 1.3 - 3.5
Iout (Amps) = 19

The proper part should be 20770-01 (Cross reference to Gateway 6001423 or HP 0950-3633).

If I read all this correctly, then it's back to eBay for the OP, right?

[EDIT]
(Maybe the 20771-01, which supports both 5 and 12 Vin would be ideal?)
 
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