ASUS P2B-B Voltage regulator swap - Adding support for coppermine processors \ VOGONS

ASUS P2B-B Voltage regulator swap - Adding support for coppermine processors

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First post, by RockstarRunner

Posted on 2021-12-21, 06:55

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I recently acquired a PC with an ASUS P2B-B Rev 1.01 running a P2 350.
The board revision is 1.01 which officially supports processors requiring a minimum of 1.8V, so basically no Coppermine CPUs.

ASUS made a Rev. 1.02 of this board that does support 100mhz fsb Coppermine processors, so I was interested in what were the differences, and would it be possible to somehow mod the older revision board in a similar manner.

After some digging around the net, I found this link, where it mentions you can potentially swap the voltage regulator chip, and along with the latest bios, you should be good to go:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150322010811/ht … pgrade_faq.html
I also found another post of someone actually trying this:
https://diarywind-com.translate.goog/blog/e/a … B&_x_tr_pto=nui

The Rev. 1.01 board has an Intersil HIP6019CB PWM controller, and the Rev. 1.02 has an Intersil HIP6019BCB PWM Controller.
I looked around on eBay and managed to find a Chinese seller that claimed to have the chip, it was cheap, so I took a chance and ordered it

The chip eventually turned up, and I took it to my friend who is good with electronics, and he said it's difficult to check the functions of the chip out-of-circuit, so he did couple of basic tests, then we just had to give it a shot and hope nothing smoked.

IMG_20211220_183647__01.jpg

Installation:

IMG_20211220_185227.jpg

IMG_20211220_190008.jpg

IMG_20211220_190306.jpg

IMG_20211220_191228.jpg

Reply 1 of 11, by RockstarRunner

Posted on 2021-12-21, 06:57

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First test done with no cpu, ram or anything else connected, no pops or smoke, so far so good.
Next we added the P2 back to the system, along with some ram, the machine posted as normal, and the bios reported a VCore of 2.0V (this is correct for the P2 350).
Then came the big test, swapping out the P2 for a P3 850 Coppermine SL43F https://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL43F.html

IMG_20211220_193223.jpg

IMG_20211220_193155.jpg

The machine posted, reported the CPU correctly, and the BIOS showed a VCore of 1.6V

I put the system through a series of tests in windows, and it performed perfectly. Result!

Reply 2 of 11, by Doornkaat

Posted on 2021-12-21, 08:59

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Yeehaw!✊😉

Reply 3 of 11, by Datadrainer

Posted on 2021-12-21, 09:15

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Great job @RockstarRunner. Thanks for sharing. 😀

Knowing things is great. Understanding things is better. Creating things is even better.

Reply 4 of 11, by teclillass

Posted on 2021-12-21, 10:51

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Very good work, photos look great.
Enjoy that motherboard, now it's a cannon.

Regards

Reply 5 of 11, by RockstarRunner

Posted on 2022-02-16, 09:46

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Update!
After doing the above mod allowed me to run Coppermine processors, I then started looking into Tualatin adapters.
I picked up a Slotket adapter off eBay, one which supports Coppermine CPU's (important, most just support the old Celerons)

slotket.jpg

Then I purchased a 1.4Ghz Tualatin Celeron (100mhz fsb) with built-in coppermine adapter from a eBay seller in South Korea (well known to these forums I believe)

tualeron.png

IMG_20220216_113627.jpg

The Tualeron runs with a 1.5V V-Core, which the new voltage regulator will happily supply.
The bios recognizes the CPU, but does issue a warning that the CPU is pulling only 1.5V, but this can be ignored, as I think it's just the BIOS not expecting such low voltage CPU.
Everything is working fine, and I'm happy this board is now even more flexible.

Reply 6 of 11, by rasz_pl

Posted on 2022-02-16, 11:17

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>Then I purchased a 1.4Ghz Tualatin Celeron (100mhz fsb) with built-in coppermine adapter from a eBay seller in South Korea (well known to these forums I believe)

So I looked it up and Im confused. Original Tualatin mod required joining 2 pins together and isolating 3 pins from the board. Did you have to cut CPU pins/did it come with pins pre-cut?

Open Source AT&T Globalyst/NCR/FIC 486-GAC-2 proprietary Cache Module reproduction

Reply 7 of 11, by RockstarRunner

Posted on 2022-02-16, 15:00

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Adapter (like a thin PCB that fits under the CPU) came pre fitted, so I didn't have to do anything than put the CPU in the slotket. I believe he cuts those pins when he installs the adapter.

Reply 8 of 11, by rolierop

Posted on 2024-05-03, 13:27

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Will this mod also work on the Asus P2B-F board?

Reply 9 of 11, by RockstarRunner

Posted on 2024-05-03, 18:49

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Check this, you may already have the newer chip, depends on revision. That said, if you have the older chip, you should be able to swap it, it's pin compatible, and some revisions do have the chip.

Re: Asus P2B-F Slot 1 Retro PC

Reply 10 of 11, by rolierop

Posted on 2024-05-04, 07:37

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RockstarRunner wrote on 2024-05-03, 18:49:

Check this, you may already have the newer chip, depends on revision. That said, if you have the older chip, you should be able to swap it, it's pin compatible, and some revisions do have the chip.

Re: Asus P2B-F Slot 1 Retro PC

Thanks! I will let you know.

Reply 11 of 11, by rolierop

Posted on Yesterday, 17:27

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rolierop wrote on 2024-05-04, 07:37:

RockstarRunner wrote on 2024-05-03, 18:49:

Check this, you may already have the newer chip, depends on revision. That said, if you have the older chip, you should be able to swap it, it's pin compatible, and some revisions do have the chip.

Re: Asus P2B-F Slot 1 Retro PC

Thanks! I will let you know.

I finally got to it. Sadly it has the HIP6019CB installed. For now I will keep it as is.
And (100Mhz) slot 1 Coppermine CPU's are hard to find anyway.

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