Intel Pentium II Xeon 400 socket: Slot 2

What the Pentium II Xeon 400 is

The Intel Pentium II Xeon 400 is a 400 MHz single-core server processor from June 1998. It runs one P6 Drake core at 400 MHz with no Hyper-Threading, so 1 core gives 1 thread. Cache is 512 KB of L2 at full CPU speed with 32 KB of L1 on a 250 nm process. Power is rated at 30.8 W in a Slot 2 SECC cartridge on a 100 MT/s front side bus with a 4x multiplier at 2.0 V.

The launch Drake card opens the Slot 2 line with full-speed cache against Pentium II Deschutes parts with half-speed cache, which is why the 400 at 400 MHz leads slot-based Deschutes servers at matching clocks. Intel launched the plain 400 on June 29, 1998 at $1124. The chip supports MMX and four-way SMP.

Launch clocks with the lowest Drake power suit first Slot 2 racks with registered memory. That is why the plain 400 shipped in launch quad boxes.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

The 400 fits Slot 2 launch servers with Drake support. It needs a 330-lead SC330 board with a 100 MT/s bus and a BIOS that lists the Xeon 400. The Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works guide covers pairing rules.

Launch quad servers are the natural match. Boards listing the plain 400 accept up to four cartridges with 30.8 W heatsinks each.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

Memory is registered EDO DRAM and SDRAM through the server chipset, matched to the board sockets. The cartridge has no memory controller. Launch boards commonly run ECC pairs.

A 100 MT/s front side bus ties each cartridge to the chipset, while PCI hangs off the chipset. No PCIe lanes originate on the cartridge. Cooling uses SECC heatsinks on the retention cage.

Upgrade paths

On the same slot, a move to a Pentium II Xeon 400 1MB such as Intel Pentium II Xeon 400 1MB doubles cache to 1 MB at 38.1 W when databases grow. A 450 MHz Drake on the same list adds clocks.

A move to Tanner Xeon adds SSE paths. The Slot 2 page lists the Drake to Cascades range. Note: the queue row lists 31 W; this page uses the verified 30.8 W.