Alpha 4

Going for a more basic design.

-added simplified version of tweaker mods via jumper
-tweaked edge cuts (heatsink clips should be spot on)

Alpha 5

Still a few more things to tweak (I wanna ditch the traces in favor of power planes), but I think this is looking pretty good as far as edge layout, major component placement, and making it compact goes.

Alpha 6

Started from scratch on traces after learning how to use nets and floods better.

Alpha 7

Been busy, layout is still in flux, not totally sold on this voltage controller but it can do 25a at 1.3-3.5v 55okhz may switch to a 300khz one..

I've gotten better at managing nets and voltage planes.

How's your schematic coming along?

0xCats wrote on 2022-04-06, 07:54:

How's your schematic coming along?

I have more items placed on the board now and am examining their associations to try to determine the best layout. I’m also slowly netting the pads. It’s a lot of work. I’m basing it off of the schematic at the bottom of the datasheet for the vrm controller. (It’s a dual phase schematic) so a fair amount more complicated than it needs to be but the controller has the capability so I may as well implement it.

The schematic in kicad, I’m still trying to understand how to associate the individual parts with parts in the board layout. I tried mapping out the bf pins but wasn’t quite sure what I was accomplishing that nets weren’t already doing on the pcb. The next alpha is going to look significantly more populated. I decided to focus on the layout (mainly jumpers, egde cuts, etc) before populating the board and so far that seems to have been a good call.

I think the bf schematic is in the zip above. If you wanna take a look and tell me how I messed it up. I get the impression that I’m doing this all the hard manual way and somehow the schematic would make it easier when it came to assembly. I’ll get there.

0xCats wrote on 2022-04-02, 16:28:

Created the Footprint + Symbol with all rule defintions 😁

Time to rock and roll

socket 5-7 symbol.png

going back through the thread,

Btw, you could add tillamook bf2 to this. I see you only have three bf pins intel it seems intended to put bf2 in the tillamook spot way back during the hx days. Believe it or not my tyan s1564 actually had a pull down for tillamook bf2 but no pull up, (making it useless 🤣.) with this in mind I’ve kinda started calling it intel bf2

Alpha 8

Got more done.

None of the positions for power circuitry are finalized. the layout and schematic is slowly starting to form though. it looks like it will all fit on the front and back inside the socket. Which I wasn't expecting. I've been using 0805 size resistors and capacitors as much as possible because they are about the size that is easy to work with when soldering. and it'll make things easier when ordering.

If you see anything of note let me know but there are a few errors I'm aware of but haven't gotten to. this is a work in progress still but I'm liking where it's going. I think it's all going to work if I keep at it. I can feel the parts starting to fall into place this is coming along nicely.

Hey cat, my caliper is wonky, do you happen to know the LIF pin width? Wanna make sure the holes are the right size.

Alpha 9

did some trace cleanup mostly

Haven't had much time to work on it.

did some more work on it today.

Will this allow me to use K6 processors with the proper lower voltage in my Socket 7 motherboard that can only output a fixed voltage?

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-04-22, 11:11:

Will this allow me to use K6 processors with the proper lower voltage in my Socket 7 motherboard that can only output a fixed voltage?

yes, but there is a fair amount more work, time, and prototyping left to do yet. As you can see the pcb is still in non functional alpha.

The idea is basically this will let you physically use any socket 5/7 processor in any 5/7 mobo (with exception of MediaGX, and Geode).

MediaGX, and Geode ARE NOT socket 5/7 chips and should never be installed in a traditional 5/7 mobo with or without a adapter, or otherwise. the pinout is TOTALLY DIFFERENT. despite using a "socket 7" socket physically, they are not compatible AT ALL and may cause damage.

That would be great for my Socket 7 boards. I can use a 233 Mhz K6 and it will run, but the voltage regulator gets extremely hot and the CPU is being given too much voltage.

Will this interposer be able to alter the clock multiplier at all or just the voltage?

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-04-22, 13:40:

That would be great for my Socket 7 boards. I can use a 233 Mhz K6 and it will run, but the voltage regulator gets extremely hot and the CPU is being given too much voltage.

Will this interposer be able to alter the clock multiplier at all or just the voltage?

The Socket 5/7/SS7 (Processor Shim) Tweaker (Released)
the Socket 5/7/SS7 (Motherboard) Tweaker (Released)
and
the Socket 5/7/SS7 (Voltage Interposer) Tweaker. (Released) all tap BF0, BF1, BF2, and TIllamook BF2 and allow for pull up and down signals to be sent to the cpu.

so, with either of these pcbs installed, all supported multipliers of the cpu should be accessible even if the motherboard didn't support setting it from the factory, as long as the resulting frequency is stable of course.

That's great. I'm pretty excited to try this.

I assume it will not be possible to use a K6-2, etc in a non-Super Socket 7 board?

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-04-22, 14:05:

That's great. I'm pretty excited to try this.

I assume it will not be possible to use a K6-2, etc in a non-Super Socket 7 board?

Once the bugs are worked out, this should allow basically any socket 5/7/SS7 cpu to work in any Socket 5/7/SS7 motherboard including 433gp, k6-3+, iDragon, Tillamook, etc. A bios update is also another aspect of this though in many cases. this deals with the hardware side of things though.

Re: Diy modding support for k6+And 120gb hard drives into bios roms
bios update details

That's very interesting and could breathe some life into my collection of 430TX motherboards if I had more flexibility with the clocks and choice of processors.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-04-22, 17:32:

That's very interesting and could breathe some life into my collection of 430TX motherboards if I had more flexibility with the clocks and choice of processors.

Got a pic of the mobo? Model number?

Pictures and some discussion about this particular board here:

Any ideas on how to repair this Socket 7 motherboard?

It's especially nice in that it has an onboard Yamaha and General MIDI synthesizer.

That does look like one of the unfortunate socket 7 boards to receive only one voltage plane. And it doesn’t look like they gave you any hope of powering vcc2 separately. So it looks like you will indeed need a interposer. (And probably a bios update/patch)