Can't shared projects on PCB way just be ordered as bare boards? What's stopping the penny pinchers from just buying a blank PCB and a $10 socket and assembling it themselves?

Or if you're really committed, skip the socket and solder the chip directly in.
Might gain a few hz by removing that additional layer of contacts - and possibly help with thermals somewhat since it will have a direct thermal bridge to the slotket.

My choice would be to have all (passive) smd's soldered at the supplier and do the THT myself. I have a few slotkets needing new sockets anyway, so maybe I should just buy some.

wbahnassi wrote on Today, 00:39:

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what's the point of this setup. Can someone educate me here? The way I see it is that Socket 370 mobos are newer than Slot 1 mobos, so why go for the older ones if perf is the goal? The newer mobos have native Tualatin support and newer chipsets, and many still have ISA slots, so why stick to slot 1 for something like a Tualatin? Is it just the challenge for making something so powerful work on a mobo that wasn't really made for it?

Pardon my noob-ness, and thanks!

Hi, @wbahnassi,
I will give my point of view here, if I'm allowed by some freshly promoted moderators 😀

The socket 370 motherboards with PIII and Celeron Tualatin support are harder to find and more expensive compared to "regular"s. 370 boards without Tualatin support, especially the ones, that still have at least one ISA slot.

So, using a slot 1 i404BX based motherboard (these have at least two ISA slots) with modified slotket for Tualatin support is much cheaper and flexible option for Tualatin platform in therms of retro computer (test) rig. Also overclocked Tualatins are often on par or even better performers compared to the very first generation of P4 CPUs and not to mention the related P4 boards with the hard to find and expensive Rambus RAM. But I think, those less pricey i440BX slot 1 motherboards will not compensate for the pcb...yay overpriced production + shipping costs from China (especially with the new custom taxes regulations).

And don't get me wrong, I really like the Alex's project, but as I mentioned, in the end it will mostly remain something exotic, just because of the price for the final product.

Seems like you missed the i440BX craze back in the days, just like me - for not being a intel fan since the PMMX times.

P.S. "Free" markets "self-regulation" rules really do work, huh. Or at least the market's monopoly rules always do 😉

P.S.2 I just saw, that @rasz_pl explained very good and briefly the limited Tuaaltin support on the socket 370 motherboards.