The Significance of 2 Celerons

How are two Celerons any different from 2 other CPUs? Well, as far as multiprocessing goes, having dual Celerons is important. When Intel released the Celeron line that included L2 cache, it had the same core as the Pentium IIs. Because of this, the ability to use SMP was inherent in the core architecture of the CPU. However, Intel modified the Celeron to disable the SMP ability. Most likely targeted as a move to keep the more profitable Pentium II and Pentium II Xeon lines the workstation and server CPUs, home users could only wish for dual Celeron systems. Some took it upon themselves to unlock the secrets of Celeron multiprocessing. The result was esoteric knowledge of how to properly modify a Celeron so it could work in SMP.

Risky business

The only problem was that modifying a Slot-1 Celeron for SMP was quite the tricky process, and involved drilling and soldering - not the everyday things that you want associated with your CPU. The modifications that had to be made were basically voltage-related modifications. Because of the difficulty in the modification process, though, it was a relatively unpracticed process. With the advent and release of Socket-370 Celerons, however, the modifications could be made on the $20 slocket adapter, a much easier and less risky-to-the-CPU process. Do-it-yourselfer modifications on slocket adapters were thus a bit more widespread.

Some manufacturers took it upon themselves as an opportunity to gain some fame, help the community out, or make some money (most likely any combination of these three) by offering slocket converters that were already modified, allowing SMP operation. Following this train of though, Abit has just taken it to the next logical evolution by offering the first motherboard that can take dual socketed Celeron CPUs. Since the Slot-1 Celeron has been phased out completely since the 433MHz variety anyway, the choice of making the motherboard a socketed one adheres to this logic. Also, using the socketed format allows for a slightly smaller motherboard, which reduces the cost of the motherboard, since the size of the PCB is actually a substantial factor in overall motherboard cost.