Usage of VRM

[tropique]

Hello,
Why to use VRM with a dual processor motherboard ?
I want to upgrade my home server with a dual processor motherboard
pentium III. When I check the parts on ebay, quite often people are
selling a VRM for this kind of motherboard. I thought VRMs were to
upgrade a motherboard with a different processor, like pentium III
to pentium III Pro.Please let me know if you have the explanation.
Thanks. Tropique

 

[Alex Harrington]

I thought VRMs were to
upgrade a motherboard with a different processor, like pentium III
to pentium III Pro.Please let me know if you have the explanation.

VRMs are voltage regulators for the processors. I'm pretty sure they're
tied to the motherboard but not the CPU (ie you can replace PIII with
another PIII without changing the VRM) as Intel boxed chips don't come
with a VRM. It seems many manufacturers VRMs are compatible but check
your particular mainboard manual carefully.

Many of the dual PIII era boards had their VRM separate, the current
crop of Xeon boards tend to have the VRs built on the boards. Sun also
put their VRMs on separate sockets for their SPARC chips.

So in short, if you're board only has one VRM, you'll need a suitable
one to use the second socket. If it has two already then you're good to go..

Alex