"John Dean" wrote in message
...
I looked in eBay and a company in Canada is selling a lot of PL1600 parts.
They have PL 1600 processor boards. I see the processor board has two CPU
card slots and four SIMM sockets. My PL2500 processor board has four memory
module sockets, two CPU card slots and a memory expansion card slot. The
memory in the PL2500 is EDO ECC 66MHz and (I think) 3.3V. The memory
reference I found for the PL1600 says the memory is PC100 Registered ECC.

Could I just swap processor boards? (Does the PL1600 processor board
mount into my PL2500 processor cage?) If so, can I temporarily continue
using the P II 333 CPUs with their 66MHz FSB... just so I could be sure it
all works before upgrading CPUs?

Will the EDO memory still work as long as the FSB is set to 66MHz? Does
the PL1600 processor board have a slot for a memory expansion card? If
so, will my PL2500 memory expansion card work?

I guess the underlying question is: Which parts must I swap out, as a
minimum, to change my box to a PL1600?

Thanks
John Dean


No, you cant just swap processor boards. You would also need the I/O board
and 3rd little board that connects the processor board to the I/O board.
Might also have power connector requirements as well.

1600 has 4 memory slots. no expansion. wont run EDO, has to be PC100 Reg ECC
SDRAM.

You actually have one of the more rare 2500's out there. Most people chose
not to get the PII upgrade kit, or they got the PII OD socket 8 processor
upgrades, which were slightly better than the slot1 PII 333 upgrades, since
the L2 cache was on-chip and ran at full processor speed, rather than the
1/2 speed of the Slot1's.

I would suggest undertaking the conversion ONLY if you approaching this from
a hobbyist point of view. If you need a performance machine that needs to be
up and running fast, just get a newer box. If this is for fun, be prepared
for an occasional frustration along the way.

- LC