It can be optional. It would be easy to test fit and solder once there is confirmed clearance.

A digital readout would be pretty cool for testing jumpers in undefined configurations or unknown configurations I'm the event of a missing manual.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-05-17, 13:24:

It can be optional. It would be easy to test fit and solder once there is confirmed clearance.

A digital readout would be pretty cool for testing jumpers in undefined configurations or unknown configurations I'm the event of a missing manual.

configuration will be printed on pcb if I can find the space for it

Alpha 15

The voltage display lost out to the vcc3 cap idea. I may come back and reassign some of the capacitors to VCC2 roles but for now VCC2 will follow the schematic.

My thoughts on it are this: It's easier to implement the voltage display elsewhere (bolted to the fan) than it is on the board. Also I don't think the heatsink and clip will clear it if on the baord.

I've noticed a rather serious problem with the interstitial socket and the LIF socket mating

the interstitial socket only starts engaging with the LIF pins at about .060" or 1.6mm about the thickness of the board I planned on using...

this is a huge problem.

but thankfully, JLCPCB can make four layer boards as thin as 0.030" or 0.8mm

This is probably barely enough to make this work but will put strain on the pcb from the heatsink clip.

the other option is to sink the pcb into the LIF further by making the holes larger and trim the legs on the LIF there is a step in the legs that would work as a good resting spot for this but making the holes larger is exactly what we did not want to do.

BUT!!

Why be good when you can be lucky, as luck would have it the hole size I currently have is 0.029" and I need to clear 0.033" so only a tiny bit larger I think I can swing it and still make clearances work.

How does this compare to how commercial products worked around this problem?

I believe the commercial product used a slightly different LIF and interstitial socket than I have been able to find.

Question.
Sorry, have been distracted with other projects. I do this for fun and which one is fun for me changes from time to time as my interests migrate. Lol Also honestly, in the interim I’ve kinda been wondering about the logic of the direction that I took with this project. At this point I could probably push through and make it to beta with a day or two of work. But,

Originally I was thinking make the voltage signal as good as possible and use a really good regulator and build it on the interposer its self.
But here is the issue, assembly of something like this takes a lot of skill, and the direction I’m going currently is going to keep this out of reach for many people who will find this. Also some of the parts are rather hard to find it turns out. A few years from now the parts I design it to work with may not be available at all.
So here is my idea:

Do the same thing with this interposer that I did with the socket 1/2/3 interposer. And just make the pcb and put a tap on it for powering it externally. The parts required drops by a order of magnitude, The skill to assemble it goes down, and the risk of not finding parts in the future goes down a fair amount also.
So I’m kinda thinking that this is the way to go.

Or, instead of a fancy regulator like I started doing, just use a linear style regulator. super simple, small BOM, easy to make.

Also,

With the abundance of off the shelf adjustable switching power supplies available on aliexpress etc that could be just wired in, it seems to be a better option.

You could plug said power supplies into any old molex and double side tape it somewhere and just run a wire over to the interposer.

This way actually opens the doors to even cleaner sources of power than I could ever fit on the board its self also. Like for example, you could use a lab psu for overclocking efforts which is what I was kinda thinking when I started this. (Overclocking stability)

Making your own Powerleap - or any other S7 voltage interposer

Socket 1/2/3 Voltage Interposer Tweaker (Alpha)

Can this be powered by an onboard fan header, instead of molex (I'm not sure what you're picturing). If there is enough power, a Y-splitter could be used on the heatsink fan and it would look very clean.

I'm not sure if there are enough amps for this without damaging the board. There are also fan header adapters to molex, and they are otherwise ubiquitous.

What do you think?

I don't mind if it's hard to make. I was hoping to build and sell these on eBay for those than can't make them themselves. I'm probably going to be the first person to beta test this, so if you want to make a really pretty one, instead of just throwing away all of this work, and before making something simpler, I can still help get it into the hands of other collectors who want something fancy.

I think you have good intentions with the Chinese switching power supplies, and this is probably a good route. But the availability of these products can vary wildly in a short amount of time, which could affect the longevity of this project. Something to think about.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-06-19, 14:10:

Can this be powered by an onboard fan header, instead of molex (I'm not sure what you're picturing). If there is enough power, a […]
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Can this be powered by an onboard fan header, instead of molex (I'm not sure what you're picturing). If there is enough power, a Y-splitter could be used on the heatsink fan and it would look very clean.

I'm not sure if there are enough amps for this without damaging the board. There are also fan header adapters to molex, and they are otherwise ubiquitous.

What do you think?

I don't mind if it's hard to make. I was hoping to build and sell these on eBay for those than can't make them themselves. I'm probably going to be the first person to beta test this, so if you want to make a really pretty one, instead of just throwing away all of this work, and before making something simpler, I can still help get it into the hands of other collectors who want something fancy.

I think you have good intentions with the Chinese switching power supplies, and this is probably a good route. But the availability of these products can vary wildly in a short amount of time, which could affect the longevity of this project. Something to think about.

The fan header isn’t rated for many amps 1, 2 tops, and maybe even less on these old boards., but it is using 12v so whatever it is rated for amps wise, down low in the 2v range it can push 6 times the amps after converting. Even at that though, I think it’s probably a bad idea. Because even if we assume the 2a that still only leaves us with 24w without accounting for conversion losses.

Na, fan header is a no go. Might work for a tillamook though..

Well here is another angle, cost.

The current product will probably cost 250$ after everything is sourced and all the labor is poured in and it’s tested etc. if you were selling It I mean. And if you made it yourself and didn’t pay labor, or shipping to customer. still probably over 100-150. Costs of course fall with higher volume production. But the market for these I think does exist. But will probably saturate quickly. I bet a few months and sales fall off.

The other route could maybe be built and sold for 100$ or so.

The availability of random chinese buck converter doesn’t really matter as there are always alternatives that pop up. And as I said, a lab psu might be the apex of sources. But reserved for the elite overclocking situations. Typical users wouldn’t probably choose that route.

I will defer to your expertise. I am not an electronics expert. I just know how to solder and perform minor repairs.

That does seem like an excessive price. Although it may be worth it for a quality product, I do appreciate the ability to buy multiples of a cheaper alternative. I think others would appreciate it as well.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-06-19, 17:47:

I will defer to your expertise. I am not an electronics expert. I just know how to solder and perform minor repairs.

That does seem like an excessive price. Although it may be worth it for a quality product, I do appreciate the ability to buy multiples of a cheaper alternative. I think others would appreciate it as well.

I've begun a new alpha based on elements from the motherboard tweaker, the processor imposter, and the processor interposer.

I should have a upload ready soon, for your perusal. 😀

Beta!

it's 4 layer design. There is some adjustments left to do but I have to save my place and come back to this.

mainly I have to play with linking vias and layers a little more.

Any recommendations for a connector to use for the wire to the power supply?

I was thinking about this. It shouldn't be a 2 pin that someone my might accidentally plug into a fan header. I think the cheapest way is to use the same inexpensive fan header type (they are Chinese and ubiquitous), but the 3 pin variety with a gap in the middle for keying (so people don't plug in a fan connector).

To clarify, a 3 pin male connector with a gap in the middle, +/- on either side. Or with ground in the center; I don't know what you need exactly.

This is the supply I will try to use for testing as it is similar to what you guys will try to use. Only 180khz frequency. So power might be a little choppy but is probably about on par with what the power leaps/motherboards used.

Actually it’s looking like this new way is going to get construction cost well under 100. This is definitely the way to go.

I put thought into a the very same adapter but my personal scepticism of these parts tells me not to count on them for a CPU.

CalamityLime wrote on 2022-06-20, 02:59:

I put thought into a the very same adapter but my personal scepticism of these parts tells me not to count on them for a CPU.

Got a suggestion for a different one? 😀

I found lab psus. Which I assume would be superior. But they don’t fit in the case..

I think this is a good part of testing this btw. You and I know that people are going to buy this exact thing wether we tell them to or not. So may as well test it.

But I would like to find a higher quality small solid state unit. Maybe even a 500khz multi stage unit. But none came up in my search. Got any suggestions?

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-06-20, 03:30:

Got a suggestion for a different one? :-) […]
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Got a suggestion for a different one? 😀

I found lab psus. Which I assume would be superior. But they don’t fit in the case..

I think this is a good part of testing this btw. You and I know that people are going to buy this exact thing whether we tell them to or not. So may as well test it.

But I would like to find a higher quality small solid state unit. Maybe even a 500khz multi stage unit. But none came up in my search. Got any suggestions?

No I don't have any suggestions, my knowledge of dc/dc converters is very limited.
I have seen similar units claiming to support 10amps with the same buck regulator chip, that the spec sheets say cap out at 8 amps (I believe)

DC/DC converters is something I've been trying to get my head around, so far all I understand is you want nice thick traces and if you're worrying about electrons turning sharp corners on a trace you might be going a bit far to cut the noise.

CalamityLime wrote on 2022-06-20, 03:36:

No I don't have any suggestions, my knowledge of dc/dc converters is very limited. I have seen similar units claiming to suppor […]
Show full quote

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-06-20, 03:30:

Got a suggestion for a different one? :-) […]
Show full quote

Got a suggestion for a different one? 😀

I found lab psus. Which I assume would be superior. But they don’t fit in the case..

I think this is a good part of testing this btw. You and I know that people are going to buy this exact thing whether we tell them to or not. So may as well test it.

But I would like to find a higher quality small solid state unit. Maybe even a 500khz multi stage unit. But none came up in my search. Got any suggestions?

No I don't have any suggestions, my knowledge of dc/dc converters is very limited.
I have seen similar units claiming to support 10amps with the same buck regulator chip, that the spec sheets say cap out at 8 amps (I believe)

DC/DC converters is something I've been trying to get my head around, so far all I understand is you want nice thick traces and if you're worrying about electrons turning sharp corners on a trace you might be going a bit far to cut the noise.

Haha.

Okay, so I’m checking out the specs on that module you are using on your project that you sent. Same one as in the 586dx thread I think.

https://www.mouser.ie/datasheet/2/281/okl2-t2 … -w12-472031.pdf

I’m kinda wondering about putting that on a thin pcb, sticking it in some shrink tube and making a molex power cord out of it for the tweaker. Thoughts?

Depends on how hot the thing gets. I have no point of reference for that.
Initially it sounds like a decent idea, I think it's better off fed off 12v and it would give the 12v rail something to do (which is always good)

CalamityLime wrote on 2022-06-20, 03:56:

Depends on how hot the thing gets. I have no point of reference for that.
Initially it sounds like a decent idea, I think it's better off fed off 12v and it would give the 12v rail something to do (which is always good)

From my solar experience: Typically you get more heat loss from a larger voltage drop.

So I’m actually kinda thinking 5v may be better to source from. But I agree 12v would be cool.

As for how much heat:

It lists its efficiency.

So if we have a 30w cpu. (High wattage for a 5/7 cpu) then we have 1.8w of heat.