Is iNTEL FW82810E SL3P7 / FE82810E SL3MD Compatible

[dicky96]

Hi guys
I want to change this GMCH (Northbridge) on a vintage PIII motherboard I am trying to repair.

The one on the board is FW82810E and says SL3MD.

I can find the same FW82810E from a few suppliers on Aliexpress (some I have used before and they seem to be reliable suppliers) but all the ones I can see listed are FW82810E SL3P7

Should they be the same / compatible? Is there some meaning to these SLxxx codes you see in intel components, are they just date or batch codes or something like that?

Cheers

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: Is iNTEL FW82810E SL3P7 / FE82810E SL3MD Compatible

those codes are s-spec numbers. they work something like part numbers for various different intel chips. they got s-spec numbers for processors, northbridges, southbridges, pch chips on boards for those that already have the nbmch in the cpu as well as s-spec numbers for their own intel lan chips.

the difference in the s-spec numbers could just mean different steppings or revisions of the 810e northbridge chip. sometimes the same part but manufactured in different countries also get different s-spec numbers but they are electrically and pin compatible and interchangeable. look up the s-spec numbers and/or consult the intel 810 series chipset datasheet when in doubt.

EDIT: there also seems to be two versions of the 810e chipset, according to wikipedia:

810E: added support for 133MHz FSB, Pentium III or Celeron "Coppermine-EB" Series CPU.

810E2:added support for Pentium III and Celeron CPUs with 130 nm "Tualatin" core, ATA100 and 4 USB 1.1 ports.

Source: Wikipedia - Intel 810

so check carefully. the 810e2 may have different resistor networks and decoupling capacitor layout on the baseboard to support the lower vcore voltage required by tualatin cpus as well as to support the faster ata transfer speed and more usb ports.

[dicky96]

Re: Is iNTEL FW82810E SL3P7 / FE82810E SL3MD Compatible

Oh, OK. My motherboard MS-6178 only supports some Coppermine PIII

https://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-MSI/MS-6178.html

and it has 2 USB ports so most likely that is the 810E (which is how the chip is marked - see pic)

The only ones I can find on Aliexpress are these ones
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/32946...archweb201603_

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: Is iNTEL FW82810E SL3P7 / FE82810E SL3MD Compatible

ok some correction to my previous post above. for intel, s-spec is an abbreviation or short form for specification number. here is a webpage link straight from the lion's mouth at intel:

Need help finding your sSpec number?

The sSpec number is also known as specification number. It's a five character string (SL36W, XL2XL, and so on) printed on the processor and used for identification. You can find this number by looking at the markings on the processor (see Figure 2), or on the boxed processor label. See Figure 1 below for an example of how to read the label to find your sSpec number.

Source: Intel - Find sSpec Number for Intel Xeon Processor to Use in Product Specifications

next, through some intensive use of my google fu, i have found out exactly which chipset and stepping is represented by the s-spec numbers sl3md and sl3p7. i have attached two datasheets for the vanilla 810 non-e chipset family and 810e chipset family specification update from intel. if u refer to page 6 of the two datasheets from intel, it says exactly which chipset part sl3md and sl3p7 are. sl3p7 is the vanilla 810 non-e chipset and sl3md is the 810e chipset, so u will need another sl3md part. the sl3p7 part from that aliexpress link wont work as its incompatible since the vanilla 810 non-e chipset doesnt support 133 mhz fsb. hope that helps...

[dicky96]

Re: Is iNTEL FW82810E SL3P7 / FE82810E SL3MD Compatible

Yes great work, that helps a lot!

Seeing as I couldn't find the correct replacement part I will try reballing and resoldering the original one. I'm not totally convinced this will fix the problem but there is no harm in trying, given no other alternative option at the moment