[rescue] Ultrasparc IIe and IIe+ (IIi?) intechangeable?

[Ethan Hawke]

Hi Dan,

Interesting question, the IIe+ is pin compatible with the IIe, it's 
changes are the following:
     - Higher clock frequency (up to 650MHz)
     - Additional Energy Star Ratios (1/4 and 1/8 in addition to the 
original 1/2 and 1/6)
     - Doubled L2 Cache to 512KB
     - Doubled memory support up to 4GB

The Sun Blade 100 and 150 also run the same firmware.

However the additional memory line will need to be routed for 4GB 
support, so 4GB may not be possible in the SB100 even with a IIe+.

Generally Sun used external programmable PLL clock chips that load a 
safe low speed and are updated during POST, it should be possible to run 
at 650Mhz, but I can't guarantee.

And of course Sun may also detect the CPU replacement and disable it in 
firmware to prevent "cheap" upgrades.

In summary, I can't see how it could damage an SB100, but it may not 
work at all or some features may be ignored.

Only one way to find out!

Cheers,
Ethan

On 11/1/25 14:12, Dan Moisa via rescue wrote:
> Basically moving the UltraSparc IIi (550 or 650 MHz and 512 kB of L3 
> cache) from the Sun Blade 150 into the Sun Bade 100 that has the 
> UltraSparc IIe (500 Mhz and 256 kB of L3 cache).
>
> Some rando claims that yes, this is possible: 
> https://community.unix.com/t/are-ultrasparc-iie-and-ultrasparciii-interchangeable/379996/4 
> but of course the evidence no longer exists.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
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