Vcore readings & Heat Questions for P2B-Powerleap-1.3g Tualatin mod

[DCM]

For my trusty old P2B, I got a Powerleap PL-iP3 Revision 2 adaptor and a
1.3g Celeron Tualatin Retail Box -seperately- for a good price. At work, I
assembled a wonderful new system with 2.4g P4, Asus P4G8X Deluxe mb with
SATA RAID, 80 gig drives, 1 gig of DDR ram (can't remember speed, latency,
etc.), and lots of other goodies. At home, my trusty old P2B started to
seem SO much slower than it did in the past, but with a new baby in the
house, and a variety of home improvement projects requiring all the extra $,
a new computer was not possible.

So, a little Internet digging scared up the PL-iP3 & 1.3g Cele deal for a
wallet (and wife) pleasing sum. Everything installed without a hitch and
has been running flawlessly.

Yet 2 issues concern me, so if those with more experience and knowledge
would be so kind to answer:

1.) SiS-Sandra is reporting V-Core of 2.0 volts, while the CPU needs to run
at 1.5v and is properly jumpered to do so. My assumption is that Sandra is
reporting the voltage delivered to the Powerleap adaptor, and that the
PL-iP3 will do its job to step down the voltage?... Is there any way to
verify that the PL-iP3 is doing its job, outside of a dmm? The heatsink is
only minutely warm.

2.) I didn't buy the full Powerleap assembled kit, so I am using the retail
Intel heat dissapation solution. The heat transfer interface on the heat
sink, some type of black, thin, dry coating does not seem adequate for the
job. Yet, I am not an engineer, and I want to trust Intel's provision.
Obviously, I could buy thermal compound, but I am not intending to
overclock, my case is good sized and well ventilated, and Intel has a
reputation for good/adequate, if not excellent/robust cooling setups. I am
curious as to others ideas/recommendations for this issue.

Thanks, in advance, for anyone's comments/help!

Dave

 

[Paul]

For my trusty old P2B, I got a Powerleap PL-iP3 Revision 2 adaptor and a
1.3g Celeron Tualatin Retail Box -seperately- for a good price. At work, I
assembled a wonderful new system with 2.4g P4, Asus P4G8X Deluxe mb with
SATA RAID, 80 gig drives, 1 gig of DDR ram (can't remember speed, latency,
etc.), and lots of other goodies. At home, my trusty old P2B started to
seem SO much slower than it did in the past, but with a new baby in the
house, and a variety of home improvement projects requiring all the extra $,
a new computer was not possible.

So, a little Internet digging scared up the PL-iP3 & 1.3g Cele deal for a
wallet (and wife) pleasing sum. Everything installed without a hitch and
has been running flawlessly.

Yet 2 issues concern me, so if those with more experience and knowledge
would be so kind to answer:

1.) SiS-Sandra is reporting V-Core of 2.0 volts, while the CPU needs to run
at 1.5v and is properly jumpered to do so. My assumption is that Sandra is
reporting the voltage delivered to the Powerleap adaptor, and that the
PL-iP3 will do its job to step down the voltage?... Is there any way to
verify that the PL-iP3 is doing its job, outside of a dmm? The heatsink is
only minutely warm.

As I understand it, the Vcore from the motherboard is disconnected
from the slocket. The Powerleap will be running at the voltage specified
by the VID pins from the processor (about 1.5V). The Powerleap slocket
sends a fixed but different VID pattern to the Vcore circuit on the
motherboard - by requesting more than 1.8V from the motherboard, this
helps ensure the motherboard Vcore circuit doesn't prevent the whole
thing from posting. You could check this, by using an ohmmeter on the
VID signals on the SC242 edge connector - the VID pins that are grounded
are logic 0's, while the open circuit pins are logic 1's. I don't
have a Powerleap here, so cannot verify this for you.

2.) I didn't buy the full Powerleap assembled kit, so I am using the retail
Intel heat dissapation solution. The heat transfer interface on the heat
sink, some type of black, thin, dry coating does not seem adequate for the
job. Yet, I am not an engineer, and I want to trust Intel's provision.
Obviously, I could buy thermal compound, but I am not intending to
overclock, my case is good sized and well ventilated, and Intel has a
reputation for good/adequate, if not excellent/robust cooling setups. I am
curious as to others ideas/recommendations for this issue.

Thanks, in advance, for anyone's comments/help!

Dave

The Tualatins dissipate a max of about 35W or so at full load. As long as
you haven't scratched the black coating up, by multiple removals and
reinstalls, it should be fine. If you play with the module a lot, at
some point you might want to switch to a thermal grease. If you do,
then you'll be reapplying the grease roughly yearly, as all grease
products either dry out or pump out of the gap between heatsink and
processor. The greases have some of the best thermal properties, but
there are some other thermal interface materials (like the black stuff),
that might last longer before needing to be replaced.

Just keep an eye on the temperature in MBM5 or Asus Probe. Measure
the processor temperature and the motherboard temperature, as the
delta between these two is a measure of cooling goodness. If you find
for identical conditions, that the processor is running 5 to 10 degress
hotter delta than it used to, it might be time to refresh the grease.

HTH,
Paul

 

[DCM]

Thanks for the info., I'll pull out the dmm or I think I have a logic probe
around somewhere... Boy, does that start to date me, having tools for
checking and servicing discrete components, rather than board/module level
repair... Anyway, I'll take a look at the logic levels as you indicated.
Your assertion below makes alot of sense:

"As I understand it, the Vcore from the motherboard is disconnected
from the slocket. The Powerleap will be running at the voltage specified
by the VID pins from the processor (about 1.5V). The Powerleap slocket
sends a fixed but different VID pattern to the Vcore circuit on the
motherboard - by requesting more than 1.8V from the motherboard, this
helps ensure the motherboard Vcore circuit doesn't prevent the whole
thing from posting."

Thanks, also, for reminding me that the thermal "greases" tend to need to be
"refreshed" every year or so. I wonder what that black material is on the
Celeron heat sink?

Thank you VERY much for your help!

Dave

 

[Erwin Dokter]

I wonder what that black material is on the
Celeron heat sink?

That is Intel's own thermal compound. The black stuff actually melts a
bit when the CPU is first heated up, and creates a permanent, gap free
thermal interface.

One disadvantage about this solution; it can only be used once. If you
ever remove the heatsink, the pad becomes useless; you will have to
remove it and replace it with thermal grease. So once it's in place,
leave it be...