Socket 7 upgrade

If you want to upgrade old, slow PC systems, several requirements have to be met. First, your motherboard must be equipped at least with socket7. Its predecessor socket5 can also be found in systems dating back to the beginning of 1996, but it cannot be used for an upgrade anymore. Furthermore the right CPU core voltage for these new AMD CPUs is an important issue. A motherboard without a split voltage feature, i.e. separate power supplies for CPU core and I/O, can't be upgraded this way. While AMD K6-2 needs a core voltage of 2.2 volt, brand new K6-2+ and K6-III+ require 2.0 volt and 1.8 volt, respectively. In this case, it depends on the core voltages supported by the voltage regulator on the motherboard. Usually, information about voltage settings can be found in the manual or on the motherboard itself. Still, sometimes manufacturers do not describe all possible settings. Here's a typical example: According to one manufacturer, a given voltage regulator offers a minimum core voltage of 2.1 volt. However, we found that voltages ranging from 1.8 volts to 2.0 volt were feasible as well. Setting these values is often possible using non-documented jumper combinations.