THE LUNCHBOX

MS-6905 meets the Tualeron Mod

By: Haut^Karl

Saturday, November 30, 2002

It would be difficult to apply the right mod if you didn't know what version of MS-6905 you had. With the help of our friend N. Yagi and his article in Japanese, here, we were able to bring you the following chart and pictures to identify your MSI slotket. There may be more versions of the 6905, but this chart lists the major changes we/N.Yagi know about.

We worked out a mod for the MS-6905 1.1 Rev. A which "should" work on all of the non-'Master' versions. The 'Master' versions were properly designed to support Pentium3 CPUs and they accept the typical 3-pin mod. The Rev. B slotket is a big question mark as it was supposed to support Pentium3 CPUs but was recalled because it didn't work properly. Have to wait for a user to try the mod on a Rev. B slotket.

Table 1

Model

Description

Picture

MS-6905 1.0

Celeron-Only operation(66 FSB). No jumper for 100 FSB/B21 or jumpers for VID selection. Silk screen for jumper shows up in later copies of this model.

Picture

MS-6905 1.1 Dual

Added jumpers for VID 1.8-2.4v and Dual-Proc selection. No jumper for FSB 100/B21 operation.

Picture

MS-6905 1.1 Dual (Rev. A)

Added jumper for Dual-Proc operation. Adapter was manufactured to be stable at FSB 133. Some Rev. A adapters came without J2 soldered in.

Picture

MS-6905 1.1 Dual (Rev. B)

Added J4 for FSB 133 selection and plastic retention mechanism. Intended to support Pentium3. Was recalled by MSI since Pentium3 support was flawed.

No Pic

MS-6905 Master 2.0 & 2.3

Added TVC chip and plastic retention mechanism, J4 for FSB 133, support for Coppermine 256k. Ver 2.0 has 3 pin J3 and Ver 2.3 has 4 pin J3.

2.0

2.3

Picture 1

Picture 2

All right. Grab a drink and head for your workbench. This mod is a little more involved than the Generic Slocket Mod.

Diagram 1

Step 1: Open your ZIF socket

Remove the sliding part of the ZIF socket with a small screw driver(Refer to this article for help). Use a black pen and blacken-in the two indexed corners so you don't get the pins mixed up. Mark the following pins on the ZIF socket with black: AN3, AM2, AG1, AK4, AJ3, X4 and Y33. Be careful since the pin numbers are reversed when looking down on the socket like in the picture below. If you look at the back of the slotket(Picture 2), the pins of the ZIF *now* correspond to the pin numbering in the Intel pdfs. We are going to use sticky tape to insulate these pins.

Picture 3

Use your judgement to figure out how big the piece of sticky tape needs to be to cover the contact for each pin. Don't worry if the tape is too long. You can trim it down with a sharp razor blade. After you insulate all 7 pins, you can reassemble the ZIF socket.

Step 2: Building Bridges

Check the following ZIF socket pins with a voltmeter for connectivity to Vss or Vcc(just in case other revisions of the MS-6905 are different to the Rev. 1.1a adapters): AN11, AN15, AN21, AL13, AL21, AK16, AH20, AA33, AA35, U35, U37, S33, S37, G35, G37, E23. If these pins are not connected at all, we need to bridge Vcc to them(Vtt would be better, but we have to generate the Vtt 1.25v ourselves which is a mod we plan to do in the future). For our MS-6905 adapter we had to connect(refer to yellow in Picture 2) all of the above pins to nearby Vcc pins. AN15 should be left alone if you want to attempt to use this in a dual processor setup.

Check for a connection between AH4 and X4 as this re-routes the RESET signal to the old location. For the Rev. 1.1a adapter, we soldered a thin wire from AH4 to X4(see Picture 2).

Note: For the adventurous overclocker, you can power the Vtt pins using a 1.5v source. We didn't get around to doing this extra step since the adapter belonged to a friend and is no longer in our possession. After you finish the normal steps, measure pin AD36 for 1.5v while you have Vcc set to something other than 1.5v just to make sure AD36 is not just another Vcc pin. It shouldn't be. Then follow along here .

Step 3: VID settings

Did you know that the MS-6905 series of adapters are capable of voltage settings from 1.3v to 3.5v? Of course your motherboard's voltage regulators must be capable of producing the voltage you select. Read more.

Before we knew the MS-6905 had VID settings down to 1.3v using the jumpers, we did the manual VID mod(Moved and expanded on, here).

Step 4: CPU Bridges

Diagram 2

Grab your conductive paint and make the bridge from AK4 to AJ5(Check this article for optional AK4 bridges).

Finishing Step: Installation

Insert your Tualatin processor into your slotket, remove the thermal pad & adhesive from the heatsink, apply some thermal grease, and install your heatsink. Set jumpers J1=bridged, J3=No Bridge, J2=2-3. Plug the slotket into your motherboard, clear the CMOS, then power-up. Are we booting?

Troubleshooting:

If you need some help from fellow modders, try any of the forums below.

The LunchBox Forums

Forum Thread at Overclockers.com: "running Tualatin on CuMine MB w/o Powerleap"

Forum Thread at MadOnion.com: "Tualatin on a BX Mobo works. No Adaptor Required"

 

 

DISCLAIMER: These mods will void your warranty. Do not attempt any of these if you fear you will not be successful.

We accept no responsibility for your errors, loss of hardware, software, data, or anything else for that matter.

© 2002 The LunchBox
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