Pentium III in dual processor workstation

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RR2006

Hi all,

I've a Compaq AP550 workstation.

It has a single Pentium III 733 processor but supports two CPUs. Does
Pentium III support dual procesing? As far as I know you can't do that with
Pentium IV but you have to buy Dual Xeon processors. Maybe in the old good
day of the Pentium III it was a different story... The slots on the
motherboard are SLOT 1, while Pentium III Xeon (correct me if I'm wrong)
requires SLOT 2. So it looks like it was designed for two Pentium III (non
xeon!) processors... Do you think the same? Have you ever had or heard about
a dual Pentium III (non xeon!) machine?

Thanks in advance...
 
RR2006 said:
Hi all,

I've a Compaq AP550 workstation.

It has a single Pentium III 733 processor but supports two CPUs. Does
Pentium III support dual procesing? As far as I know you can't do that
with Pentium IV but you have to buy Dual Xeon processors. Maybe in the
old good day of the Pentium III it was a different story... The slots
on the motherboard are SLOT 1, while Pentium III Xeon (correct me if
I'm wrong) requires SLOT 2. So it looks like it was designed for two
Pentium III (non xeon!) processors... Do you think the same? Have you
ever had or heard about a dual Pentium III (non xeon!) machine?

Thanks in advance...
Click to expand...
Compaq Data is found here; It really does use P3s.

http://search.hp.com/query.html?cha...n+ap550+733MHz&ocoldqt=compaq+AP550&oc=100750

The major issue you'll have is that you need an absolutely identical cpu
and you also
need a processor power module for the second cpu.
 
RR2006 said:
Hi all,

I've a Compaq AP550 workstation.

It has a single Pentium III 733 processor but supports two CPUs. Does
Pentium III support dual procesing?
Click to expand...

Yes.

As far as I know you can't do that with
Pentium IV but you have to buy Dual Xeon processors.
Click to expand...

This is delibrate on the part of Intel.

Maybe in the old good
day of the Pentium III it was a different story... The slots on the
motherboard are SLOT 1, while Pentium III Xeon (correct me if I'm wrong)
requires SLOT 2. So it looks like it was designed for two Pentium III (non
xeon!) processors... Do you think the same? Have you ever had or heard about
a dual Pentium III (non xeon!) machine?
Click to expand...

I've worked on a couple. They're really pretty common. I've got a twin
p3 1GHZ on my work bench, that I'll be finishing up tomorrow.
 
pen said:
Compaq Data is found here; It really does use P3s.

http://search.hp.com/query.html?charset=iso-8859-1&hpvc=sitewide&la=en&qs=&l
k=1&rf=0&uf=1&nh=10&st=1&qt=Compaq+Professional+Workstation+ap550+733MHz&oco
ldqt=compaq+AP550&oc=100750

The major issue you'll have is that you need an absolutely identical cpu
and you also
need a processor power module for the second cpu.
Click to expand...

It is called a V(oltage)R(egulator)M(odule). Believe it or not I have a
Dual PII that requires 2 VRMs. Weird huh?
 
George said:
It is called a V(oltage)R(egulator)M(odule). Believe it or not I have a
Dual PII that requires 2 VRMs. Weird huh?
Click to expand...
Not especially. I've seen 3 VRMs in some dual processor systems. (One's
a spare)
 
Yes.
Click to expand...

Great! But so... What did Pentium III Xeon (Cascades) offered over Pentium
III (Coppermine)?

This machine has chipset i840 and also has 512 MB of RDRAM 600 ECC... SCSI
160 and IDE controllers, with a 10000 RPM SCSI disk... Not so bad for a
workstation built six years ago!
 
George Hester said:
It is called a V(oltage)R(egulator)M(odule). Believe it or not I have a
Dual PII that requires 2 VRMs. Weird huh?
Click to expand...

Thanks. The machine actually has no VRM module installed. Near the installed
CPU there are many capacitors and an inductor: I suppose it's a VRM
integrated on the motherboard. Near the free slot there is a sort of
connector. I guess it is for the second CPU...

The installed CPU has a heatsink... But I'm not sure a heatsink would be
good for the second CPU...

I can upload somewhere a picture of this zone of the motherboard... If you
may help me!

Thanks to anyone for the help.
 
RR2006 said:
Thanks. The machine actually has no VRM module installed. Near the
installed CPU there are many capacitors and an inductor: I suppose it's a
VRM integrated on the motherboard. Near the free slot there is a sort of
connector. I guess it is for the second CPU...
Click to expand...

I meant: "for the second CPU VRM..."
 
RR2006 said:
I meant: "for the second CPU VRM..."
Click to expand...

Well... It actually is. I found a label describing the parts of the
motherboard inside the case. I looked around, and I can found a compatible
VRM. Good! Thanks.
 
RR2006 said:
Great! But so... What did Pentium III Xeon (Cascades) offered over Pentium
III (Coppermine)?
Click to expand...
Much better math (among other things). Perferred by servers, and the
occasional CAD drafter.
This machine has chipset i840 and also has 512 MB of RDRAM 600 ECC... SCSI
160 and IDE controllers, with a 10000 RPM SCSI disk... Not so bad for a
workstation built six years ago!
Click to expand...

Should be perfectly competant today.
 
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