NetServer LH3 CPU Upgrade

[Don Coats]

Hi,
I have an NetServer LH3 with a PII/350 processor in it. I have an opportunity to purchase the D8583A cpu upgrade kit - the desription is a PIII/550 processor upgrade kit. My question is, what should be in this kit? My rep says that there is only the cpu but others have advised that it should include a VRM and fan. Which is it?

[Chris Blumenshine]

That kit should be CPU and VRM. No fan would be in that kit.

[Timothy Ma · Accepted solution]

The kit does not have a fan but I was told with CPU's above 500 MHz you should install a fan...recommended by HP. This fan sits on the end of the cpu cage so check your hardware and look to see if there is one there already. I upgraded my cpu from P II 400 to P III/500 and noticed my cpu cage already had the fan installed. It sits on the side and is about 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches and plugs into the motherboard.

As for the VRM (voltage regulator module) check your original and it should match the PIII/550 requirements. If the VRM you have installed for the P II/350 is 2.0 volts and the P III/550 needs a 2.0 volts VRM then you don't need to upgrade the VRM. But if you are adding another cpu obiviously you need matching cpu's and the additional matching VRM. Check the voltage requirements for the P III/550 but I think it is 2.0 volts.

As for the fan, you will need a fan because the 550 puts out more BTU's than your 350.

Timothy

[Don Coats]

Thanks Timothy for the reply.
If I don't have the cpu fan is there a specific HP part number for it or is there a generic fan that I can install?
Thanks,
Don

[Timothy Ma]

Yes the part # of the kit is:: D8595A ....

Timothy

[Timothy Ma]

I forgot to reply to the second portion of your question. The HP part has a metal cage so installing a generic fan would have no mounting base. If you were clever, you probably could figure out how to mount it but pay attention to the polarity and the ground wire(there is a plug in clearly labelled on the motherboard for the fan's power)

With the HP part, you just install it. In fact, I installed and couple of extra fans directly onto the cpu heat sinks and spliced into the leads of the HP fan. They work just great.

The consequence of not having the fan will be a very noisey box. The cpu's temperature must be monitored and if the temperature rises to a certain setpoint, the fans spin up to a faster rpm to increase the box's airflow. I discovered this after running the P III 500's without the additional fans because the heat sinks were designed for those small fans. Now the box never spins up it's fans.

I purchased my cpu's (PIII 500's) from e-bay (ouch hp won't like it but hp do not make the cpu's...intel does) and after consulting this forum, an HP engineer suggested adding an additional fan but then recanted and said the fan is only really needed for the PIII 550's and 600's. Good Luck with it.

Timothy

[Jim Sills]

Don:

I sent the following reply to your earlier question posted June 10. If you haven't already bought the CPU kit you might want to read my comments, starting here:

P-3, 600 is as high as you can go. Your P-2, 350, has an iCOMP rating of 1000. The P-3, 600 has an iCOMP rating of 1930. You can almost double your performance, plus add a second CPU for more. The two 600s make a nice server.

You can use a generic processor, but you have to be VERY careful about the variety.

There are: 600 (Katmai), 600B (Katmai-B), 600E (Coppermine) and 600EB (Coppermine).

Only the 600 (Katmai) will work. The sure way to cut through all the confusion is to look for Intel's sSpec code, also referred to as stepping code. It is printed on the top edge of the CPU and is a SURE way of identifying what you want.

Use ONLY sSpec SL3JT or SL3JM for P-3, 600. Get matched sSpec codes if you use two CPUs, same code for both CPUs. Either 2-ea SL3JT or 2-ea SL3JM.

Don't forget the BIOS upgrade and the VRM (voltage regulator module) if you add a second CPU.

Finding a matched set of CPUs will take some effort. Ebay is your best bet, you will probably have to buy them one at a time, from different sellers, just be sure you are buying matched sSpec codes.

Good luck,

Jim