PGA socket extender (Riser) Availability

Hi everyone,
I bought PowerLeap PL Pro MMX Upgrade adapter for my 1997 socket 7
computer. The machine runs perfectly with the original Cyrix Pr 166.
Though ould run a bit faster to run some music software a bit
smoother.

The socket 7 has a couple of capacitors right on its edge. This
prevents the PowerLeap fitting into the socket. It seems a PGA socket
extender (Riser) would lift the adapter clear of the capacitors.

There problem solved, not quite, I can't find a PGA adaper extender
anywhere. Can anyone help please?
Thank you,
Peter.


--
pollys13

If you can find PGA solder tail sockets, you can stack them up until
the adapter clears the capacitors.

On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 16:34:26 +0000, pollys13
<pollys13.1y3gir@news.computerbanter.com> wrote:

>
>Hi everyone,
>I bought PowerLeap PL Pro MMX Upgrade adapter for my 1997 socket 7
>computer. The machine runs perfectly with the original Cyrix Pr 166.
>Though ould run a bit faster to run some music software a bit
>smoother.
>
>The socket 7 has a couple of capacitors right on its edge. This
>prevents the PowerLeap fitting into the socket. It seems a PGA socket
>extender (Riser) would lift the adapter clear of the capacitors.
>
>There problem solved, not quite, I can't find a PGA adaper extender
>anywhere. Can anyone help please?
>Thank you,
>Peter.

On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 04:05:51 GMT, Andy <1@2.3> wrote:

>If you can find PGA solder tail sockets, you can stack them up until
>the adapter clears the capacitors.
>

That's not necessarily true, adding sockets like this will
increase the inductance and add capacitive junctions from
the mechanical connections. It may also throw off timing,
keep in mind that the motherboard was not engineered to
accomodate this.

There are several options, buying one or more socket
adapters is probably the worst one. In addition to what i
mentioned above, there was not much performance benefit from
MMX chips unless the software uses MMX, and with it being a
pre-MMX board it may not even be very viable due to use of
linear regulators for power. MMX chips had lower voltage,
but higher amperage- in conjunction the two work against
linear regulators often used on such boards.

IF OP wants to try it anyway, he might see if he can use a
soldering iron to pull these offensive caps up a little,
tilt them away from the socket by pulling one (or both if
necessary) leads out of the board a little- typically at
least 1-1.5mm lift can result in the top of the cap being
shifted away from the socket by a few mm. ANother
alternative might be buying shorter, low-ESR caps from
someplace like Digikey, and replacing them- though this is
quite an undertaking for such an old low-performance system,
yet on the other hand, so is buying the MMX adapter and
further sockets just for an MMX Pentium 1.

On the other hand, the project continues to get more and
more expensive for a very minor % performance gain- and we
can't even speculate how long such an old set of hardware
will continue working, especially with the addtional power
demands of the new CPU.

IMO, better to seek a more modern system. Even a low-end
Coppermine P3 or Celeron based box can be had for little,
whether it be salvage from the local mom-n-pop computer shop
or something bought online for under $100. If it's really
necessary to reuse old SIMMs, AT case and power, it might be
possible to find a babyAT motherboard cheaply that can run
the MMX or a faster K6-2 or -3 CPU.


>On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 16:34:26 +0000, pollys13
><pollys13.1y3gir@news.computerbanter.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>Hi everyone,
>>I bought PowerLeap PL Pro MMX Upgrade adapter for my 1997 socket 7
>>computer. The machine runs perfectly with the original Cyrix Pr 166.
>>Though ould run a bit faster to run some music software a bit
>>smoother.
>>
>>The socket 7 has a couple of capacitors right on its edge. This
>>prevents the PowerLeap fitting into the socket. It seems a PGA socket
>>extender (Riser) would lift the adapter clear of the capacitors.
>>
>>There problem solved, not quite, I can't find a PGA adaper extender
>>anywhere. Can anyone help please?
>>Thank you,
>>Peter.

"pollys13" <pollys13.1y3gir@news.computerbanter.com> wrote in message
news:pollys13.1y3gir@news.computerbanter.com...
>
> Hi everyone,
> I bought PowerLeap PL Pro MMX Upgrade adapter for my 1997 socket 7
> computer. The machine runs perfectly with the original Cyrix Pr 166.
> Though ould run a bit faster to run some music software a bit
> smoother.
>
> The socket 7 has a couple of capacitors right on its edge. This
> prevents the PowerLeap fitting into the socket. It seems a PGA socket
> extender (Riser) would lift the adapter clear of the capacitors.
>
> There problem solved, not quite, I can't find a PGA adaper extender
> anywhere. Can anyone help please?

Just go onto Ebay (or a a shop) and buy the cheapest motherboard and CPU
bundle you can find. It will be 10 times faster than your Cyrix.

In article <pollys13.1y3gir@news.computerbanter.com>, pollys13
<pollys13.1y3gir@news.computerbanter.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> I bought PowerLeap PL Pro MMX Upgrade adapter for my 1997 socket
7computer. The machine runs perfectly with the original Cyrix Pr
166.Though ould run a bit faster to run some music software a bitsmoother.
>
> The socket 7 has a couple of capacitors right on its edge. Thisprevents
the PowerLeap fitting into the socket. It seems a PGA socketextender
(Riser) would lift the adapter clear of the capacitors.
>
> There problem solved, not quite, I can't find a PGA adaper
extenderanywhere. Can anyone help please?
> Thank you,
> Peter.-- pollys13

Can you find a URL containing a picture of the socket you
are trying to fit ? You can use images.google.com or
http://www.altavista.com/image/default to search for a
picture of the socket. Then post the URL and maybe
someone can find one for you.

Also, you might consider posting the exact brand and model
number of the motherboard, so we can look at it.

Here is some sample technology - PGA sockets with soldertails:

http://www.mill-max.com/sockets/foot...GRID=&x=46&y=8

You can see some sample pricing here, and to build a sandwich of
sockets would cost a small fortune. Buying another motherboard
could well be cheaper.

(Bottom of page - soldertail, high pin count, $13 each, you might
need to sandwich a few of them. The more obscure the pin
pattern, the more expensive these get.)

http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T053/0308.pdf

I used to use sandwiches like this all the time - but at 10MHz :-)
How well this would work at the frequency your processor uses on
the interface, might depend on how many devices are sitting on
the bus. A point to point interconnect should be pretty
forgiving, especially if it is terminated on both ends. If multiple
ICs are on the bus, the signal quality might be adversely affected.

The sandwich can also be hard to take apart later, if you need to
reuse the components. The ZIF on the motherboard makes removal
there easy.

HTH,
Paul