First post, by KCompRoom2000
Hello, I have a Dell Optiplex GX150 desktop which I posted about several pages back on the Bought these (retro) hardware today thread. Even though this is a later model (judging by the March 2002 manufacturing date), it appears to have a 1 GHz Coppermine Pentium III SL52R installed.
I was thinking about getting a Tualatin Pentium III processor for it at some point in the future. I have some questions:
1. Is processor compatibility limited depending on the motherboard revision? I've been doing some online research and came up with the assumption that there are at least four different models of the GX150 motherboard - 038HRF, 05J890, 02E933, and 02H240 - only one of which (the 02H240) was confirmed to be Tualatin compatible. The 02H240 is the one I have so I should be good to go in that theory.
2. According to the service manual, some GX150 motherboards had replaceable VRM modules. So even if the motherboard is supposedly compatible, can the VRM be a factor that limits CPU compatibility? Upon doing an image search on GX150 motherboards I noticed the VRM part of the board varies on appearance even on the same motherboard model. (I can attach a photo of what the VRM module looks like if I confused you here)
3. Does the GX150 (assuming it's Tualatin compatible) support the Pentium III-S processors (with 512K cache) or does it have to be a regular Pentium III (with 256K cache)? I know how some of the later Dells had a CPU whitelist in the BIOS so I was wondering if this was affected also.
4. What are the chances of frying the motherboard (and CPU) by trying to use a Tualatin (FC-PGA2) CPU on a mobo that was designed for Coppermine (FC-PGA) CPUs? I would hate to ruin my system if this turns out not to work as intended. Especially now that P3 hardware is getting harder to find.
Hopefully this helps me decide if the CPU is all I need or if I need to get another motherboard to satisfy it.