A Tale of Two Slotkets

Ya know, sometimes I get a lotta crap for what I do. My brother, for example, says I collect old worthless junk for no good reason. Maybe so, maybe so. I tend to look at it this way: I get an old and outdated computer given to me because the owner doesnt want it anymore. I can tinker, tweak, and completely rail on it shamelessly, squeezing out every ounce of performance I can while learning new techniques and tips. If I burn it up, so what? If I jump on my i7 and do the same thing... and burn it up... Well... thats a very expensive lesson to learn! Since he is by no means a tweaker (plays WoW... poor kid) its easy to see why he doesnt understand.

Anyway, enough of that... Today we take yet another look at old Slot 1 systems. Remember the Cheap 'n Dirty build with its Celeron 300A? That Celly is out, slotket CPU upgrades are in!

Now, just what the heck is a SLOTKET?

Simply put, a Slot 1 processor card with a Socket 370 stuck on it. Slam your favorite Socket 370 CPU in, and ya got yourself a Slotket! I own 2, one running a Pentium 3 Coppermine 1 GHz CPU, the other running a Celeron Tualatin 1.3 GHz CPU. Lets have a look:
Heres the Coppermine. This motherboard only supports Pentium 2 processors, so this slotket doubles as a compatibility adapter allowing the mobo to use a Pentium 3, even the Coppermine (obviously) CPUs. The performance over something like the Celly 300A is astonishing.

Performance is great, but sometimes comes at a price. Even though Coppermines run on only 1.75V (as opposed to 2.0V required by the 300A), they draw significantly more amps. Heres the stats:
Celly 300A:
20W/2.0V = 10A of current
Coppermine 1 GHz:
35W/1.75V = 20A of current => double the draw!

Now, remember this mobo is designed for processors like the 300A. Sure the Coppermine RUNS on the mobo, but stresses the onboard power MOSFETS, which often times leads to the board burning (literally, smoke and all) out prematurely.

So whadda ya do? 300 MHz just doesnt go very far anymore.
Enter Powerleap's solution:
Check it out: This slotket has its own power circuitry onboard and an external power supply cord, thus relieving the motherboard of the duty of solely supplying power to the CPU. The MOSFETS on the Powerleap are also beefier and made to take the heftier power loads:
Finally, in our list of CPU power draws:
Celeron Tualatin 1300:
32W/1.45V = 22.07A of current
My Celeron runs at 1.46 GHz, so it will need a little more juice, probably in the 34W range... Still, the amount of current needed greatly exceeds the recommended specs of the onboard MOSFETS.

When the Celly Tualatin is placed in the slotket at the top and the PC is powered on, the mobo MOSFETS get hot enough to instantly burn when touched (> 70C!). The Coppermine heats them up to a toasty 50C, but they will tolerate that more easily. Throw either processor in the Powerleap adapter, and the temperature of the onboard MOSFETS drops to a chill 29C, a temperature they can run comfortably at all the time. The MOSFETS on the Powerleap warm to around 40C, which is in no danger of burning up.

We saw another spat of this recently with AMD motherboards around the release of the Phenom 9850 quad core. That and the 9950 ate motherboards power chips for lunch, and eventually motherboard manufacturers began including Phenom compatibility stats as part of the specifications, stating whether users were safe stuffing the power hungry CPUs in them. Power often gets overlooked, but when choosing a motherboard for a build, be sure that board is up to the task!

Until next time, stay classy!