Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
From a physical standpoint, it was a big departure from previous processors. Abandoning
the chip in a socket approach used by virtually all processors up until this point, the Pen-
tium II chip is characterized by its SEC cartridge (SECC) design. The processor, along
with several L2 cache chips, is mounted on a small circuit board (much like an oversized-
memory SIMM), as shown in
Figure 3.25
,
and the circuit board is then sealed in a metal
and plastic cartridge. The cartridge is then plugged into the motherboard through an edge
connector called Slot 1, which looks much like an adapter card slot.
Figure 3.25
Pentium II processor board (normally found inside the SEC cartridge). Photograph used by
permission of Intel Corporation.
