Asus S370-133 Slocket Overview
 |
This nifty little slocket by Asus not only allows the Intel FC-PGA
chipset to be converted to fit with Slot-1 motherboards but it also lets
the chips run FSB at anything up to 133MHz. Naturally the card is
also Celeron capable, so those of you who have a Celeron currently and are
looking for a good overclocking card, with some future upgrading to a
CuMine possibly should eye this little
slocket. |
The slot-1 motherboard is still king, which is kind of funny if you think
about it because hardly any Intel Processors are actually sold in that form
factor these days. I guess the general idea is backwards compatibility on the
part of the motherboard manufacturers.
While slockets are suited to people looking to upgrade their PII or PIII to
PPGA or FC-PGA I really doubt anyone buying this card will ever use a
Celeron in it. So the Compatibility is nice but not really necessary. The card
can acquire temperature data from the processors thermal diode and pass it over
to the motherboard and BIOS/software that supports CPU thermal monitoring -
an important point if you overclock ;-)
The best part by
far is the variable V-Core power settings (especially if an older Mother board doesn't support those options through the
BIOS) which range from 1.50 volts to 2.60 volts in 0.05 & 0.10 volt increments. Along with the printed documentation,
the jumper settings are printed on the back of the card. This is one
of those little touches Asus seems to be known for. The worst possible situation
would be having a card such as this with jumper settings only printed on a piece
of paper that will inevitably get lost somewhere.
 |
CPU Voltage |
JP1 |
JP2 |
JP3 |
JP4 |
JP5 |
| 1.50 |
X |
X |
2-3 |
X |
2-3 |
| 1.55 |
2-3 |
X |
2-3 |
X |
2-3 |
| 1.60 |
X |
2-3 |
2-3 |
X |
2-3 |
| 1.65 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
X |
2-3 |
| 1.70 |
X |
X |
X |
2-3 |
2-3 |
| 1.75 |
2-3 |
X |
X |
2-3 |
2-3 |
| 1.80 |
X |
2-3 |
X |
2-3 |
2-3 |
| 1.85 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
X |
2-3 |
2-3 |
| 1.90 |
X |
X |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
| 1.95 |
2-3 |
X |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
| 2.00 |
X |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
| 2.05 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
| 2.1 |
2-3 |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| 2.2 |
X |
2-3 |
X |
X |
X |
| 2.3 |
2-3 |
2-3 |
X |
X |
X |
| 2.4 |
X |
X |
2-3 |
X |
X |
| 2.5 |
2-3 |
X |
2-3 |
X |
X |
| 2.60 |
X |
2-3 |
2-3 |
X |
X |
| CPU Default |
1-2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
Another
not so obvious point is that the Asus slocket design is compatible with the
MC1000 peltier cooler. Sooo.... if you are one of the lucky people who happen to
have that alumium giant in their computer, this card is the choice
to move TEC cooling along to the realm of the CuMine. The only modification
that needs to be done is to remove the black plastic retainer. I believe
Asus slockets were originally chosen by the folks at Swiftech because of the
lack of any large dielectric capacitors sticking out. The card has a nice slim
design, with only the jumpers sticking out a bit - other then the
CPU-socket.
I've been thinking about using this card in
particular for its slim design in conjunction with one really large heatsink
attached by the screw holes for the black plastic retention clip... A SECC2
sized heatsink could easily be attached that way - avoiding the socket-370 clips
entirely... h'mmm I'll have to come back to that one at a latter time.
Installation is a snap, the default settings
are set for power and for CopperMine use. I guess that strengthens my argument
about this card probably never seeing a Celeron.
The general Procedure for using the Asus 370-133 CPU card:
1)
Set the JP6 jumper according to the type of your CPU. Settings are on the back of the slocket, or in the instructions.
2) Check the voltage setting for your socket 370 processor using the jumpers on the card if necessary. For current socket 370 processors, the default setting should be used.
3) Install the socket 370 processor. Lift the brown lever to 90 degrees to install the processor and lower the brown lever to lock the processor.
4) Install the CPU fan.
5) Insert the card into the Slot-1 socket on the motherboard. The two fins on the sides of the card should catch on the retention mechanism so that it locks in place.
6) Connect the socket 370 processors fan connector to the motherboard.
7)
Make sure
that no wires or objects come in contact with the fan blades.
Bad things: There is always at least one complaint
with something, and mine has to do with the socket-370 asus chose to use. Why
they would design a slocket with came lever that interferes with heatsinks when
a CuMine is being used is beyond me. There are socket-370's out there with flush
cam levers so this problem is avoided.
Other then that one shortsighted component this a great little
slocket, with many uses to the novice upgrading a system from a 300Mhz, to the
overclocker trying to squeeze everything out of their 500E and the hard core
Overclocker using a MC1000 to keep things cool. Incidentally the nicely gold plated contacts are much less likely to corrode when they get wet ;-)
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