I miss Slot 1!

[VirtualLarry]

No, not for the performance - for the convenience.

To do a CPU upgrade on a Slot-1 rig - prepare the processor by snapping on a heatsink, then just push two tabs at the top of the CPU to release the latches, and pull it right out. Plug the new one right in, and then plug in the fan cable.

No pushpins, no need to remove the motherboard, no need to remove the heatsink, lift the lever, no worries about bent pins.

Just easy-peasy.

Here's hoping that Intel's future CPUs are slot-based.

 

[CKTurbo128]

Slot 1 brings back memories of my first PC upgrade ventures. So easy to install and no worries about accidentally breaking your processor. Slotket adapters were also fun to play around with as well.

It was fun upgrading a 1998 Dell Dimension PC from a Pentium II 400 MHz to a Tualatin Celeron 1.4 GHz (via slotket) and witnessing a pretty huge performance increase back then.

 

[Arkaign]

Slot only came about to enable on-package L2 cache, once the tech was ready for on-die cache, that's gone away. I doubt we'll see a return, unless it's something like a SOC riser-card.

I know there were some slightly more recent servers that had cards for CPUs, but were more akin to slockets than anything, the chips still went into sockets on the boards, which then slid into slots.

 

[podspi]

Hah, Slot CPUs looked awesome. But I doubt they'll return to that. Seems kind of wasteful from a packaging POV.

 

[avatar82]

It would be interesting to see what todays megahuge 6 heatpipe heatsinks would look like with slot style mounting.

Would the heatsinks be wrapped around the slot like a taco? It can only go so far out till it hits Ram.

i remember my first slot cpu was a celery 333a which had l2 cache on die anyway, so there was no need hehe.

 

[Arachnotronic]

The LGA 775 cooling solutions were painful to put on, but AMD's AM3 and Intel's 1155/1156/1366 are much easier...

 

[bridito]

I miss my abacus. But calculating those Photoshop Gaussian Blur formulas was a pain.

Actually I can hardly wait until people start installing LGA2011s and forgetting to plunk down the second lever. Oops!

 

[exar333]

The LGA 775 cooling solutions were painful to put on, but AMD's AM3 and Intel's 1155/1156/1366 are much easier...

Intel push-pins are terrible. I always have a backplate with a better mounting mechanism when going the Intel route. AMD's stock lever is much easier to instal IMHO.

I had a S775 system for a little while and HATED the way the hsf mounted. It was a test of patience to get it on 'just right'.

 

[ElFenix]

iirc, the altair and it's clones used the CPU in a slot. then the ram was in another slot or slots (all identical), and other expansion occupied other slots. the motherboard was more of a backplane.

 

[nonameo]

lol, anyone remember when ram went in sockets?

 

[JimmiG]

Slot only came about to enable on-package L2 cache, once the tech was ready for on-die cache, that's gone away. I doubt we'll see a return, unless it's something like a SOC riser-card.

I know there were some slightly more recent servers that had cards for CPUs, but were more akin to slockets than anything, the chips still went into sockets on the boards, which then slid into slots.

Since even GPUs are being integrated on the CPU die now, I doubt the Slot design will ever make a return in the consumer market.. It's cheaper to put the CPU in a smaller package. CPU manufacturers try to keep material costs down - a CPU is a lot like a piece of software actually. You're paying to recoup the R&D costs etc. The result of this R&D is "printed" on a small chip, but it's not the actual chip that you're paying hundreds of dollars for.

I never had a Slot CPU. I was running a K6-II until the Thunderbird came out with Socket A. Then I started hearing about all those crushed AMD cores and almost regretted not getting a Slot A Athlon instead, but I managed to strap on a heatsink without damaging my brand new T-Bird

 

[Arkadrel]

No, not for the performance - for the convenience.

To do a CPU upgrade on a Slot-1 rig - prepare the processor by snapping on a heatsink, then just push two tabs at the top of the CPU to release the latches, and pull it right out. Plug the new one right in, and then plug in the fan cable.

No pushpins, no need to remove the motherboard, no need to remove the heatsink, lift the lever, no worries about bent pins.

Just easy-peasy.

Here's hoping that Intel's future CPUs are slot-based.

there are 2 reasons they dont use it anymore:

1) data lanes, new cpus have like 1300 pins... makeing a slot-1 like cpu, would be one LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG mofo.

2) carry weight. The slot-1 carried its weight on the side, all of it's weight was put on socket. *IF* you where to mount a modern day 800g heatsink, onto a device like that, you would likely damage the motherboard.



=

you ll never see a slot-1 like socket again, because its impractical.

The ways used today, are better suited (cheaper) and are better designed to carry the weight of heatsinks. Also they takeup less space (on motherboard layout), something motherboard manufactors may like.

I doubt the Slot design will ever make a return in the consumer market.. It's cheaper to put the CPU in a smaller package. CPU manufacturers try to keep material costs down

+

Seems kind of wasteful from a packaging POV.

=

Yep.

 

[Modelworks]

I'm waiting for the day when FPGA become advanced enough to allow for the chip to equal a modern cpu and could be soldered to the board and programmed with software. Want a new cpu, just update the code. We have fpga now that can do 8 p3 cores on one chip so there is hope.

 

[Kenmitch]

Slot 1 was the first of my overclocking adventures!

 

[Blue_Max]

I can see the appeal - yank the old one out, drop the new one in... DONE.

No thermal compound and fan-mounting fuss, etc.

 

[GammaLaser]

I'm waiting for the day when FPGA become advanced enough to allow for the chip to equal a modern cpu and could be soldered to the board and programmed with software. Want a new cpu, just update the code. We have fpga now that can do 8 p3 cores on one chip so there is hope.

Probably not happening since:

1) It'll be much less efficient. FPGA's need to be fairly flexible and thus needs a complex interconnect fabric along with generic logic elements, both of which adds more delay, requires extra transistors and will consume more power. There will always be a *huge* performance drop going from a custom or semi-custom VLSI chip to a generic FPGA device for a given power envelope and price, and especially since future CPUs need to support mobile and ultramobile segments without slowing to a crawl this makes it that much harder to justify.

2) Intel/AMD don't want you to just be able to download new code to upgrade their CPUs, it would be hard to control sales/IP protection (CPU torrenting?? ), and you'd still need to push silicon process changes. This doesn't make much sense when process changes every 2 years anyway.

There's always those combo CPU/FPGA deals (SoPC, etc), for example I believe Altera has started to integrate Atoms with an FPGA. Seems the purpose for that would be to provide flexible I/O options...perhaps at some point the FPGA could also be programmed as a function-specific coprocessor.

 

[hans007]

lol, anyone remember when ram went in sockets?

thats old school. even the 286s we had used simms.

closest i've ever seen in person was upgrading memory on a 1mb video card to a 2mb one with some random chips i bought at compusa that fit in the dip sockets.

i still remember as a kid reading pc mag, and seeing sipp modules and the jokse about using them to comb a moustache

 

[ArtShapiro]

lol, anyone remember when ram went in sockets?

Uh, I remember when ram was little torroids threaded in a grid pattern on horizontal and vertical wires

Art

 

[GammaLaser]

Uh, I remember when ram was little torroids threaded in a grid pattern on horizontal and vertical wires

Art

Ah...you mean core memory

 

[JoJoman88]

Hey, anybody had a Intel board that had the DIP socket cache that supposedly could be upgraded. I think that was for a P1 120 MHZ, I can not remember what the CPU socket was. My next box was a Abit BX 440 chipset with a Celery 333a on Slot 1. My first overclock and it overclocked like a champ. Good times!

 

[hans007]

Hey, anybody had a Intel board that had the DIP socket cache that supposedly could be upgraded. I think that was for a P1 120 MHZ, I can not remember what the CPU socket was. My next box was a Abit BX 440 chipset with a Celery 333a on Slot 1. My first overclock and it overclocked like a champ. Good times!

i think mine had the COAST slot. but others you had to go get all the dips

 

[ArtShapiro]

Ah...you mean core memory

Yep - legitimately RAM (Random Access Memory) although hellaciously slower and whose tiny quantity was as impressive as the whopping expense.

Art

 

[dbcooper1]

lol, anyone remember when ram went in sockets?

Oh yeah, and not MUCH RAM, but lots of pieces that had to be reseated at the first hiccup ..

 

[dbcooper1]

Hey, anybody had a Intel board that had the DIP socket cache that supposedly could be upgraded. I think that was for a P1 120 MHZ, I can not remember what the CPU socket was. My next box was a Abit BX 440 chipset with a Celery 333a on Slot 1. My first overclock and it overclocked like a champ. Good times!

and I think I remember there was a scam around that time; some were putting cache chips on the boards but there was nothing in them

 

[BTA]

People were still able to fuck up installing Slot processors. Especially getting the heatsink
to clip onto the cartridge correctly. People somehow managed to get them cockeyed all the time.