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Cyrix Hotplate Howto
fimbulvetr writes "Looking to put those old processors to work? Tired of catching flack for having hardware, but no use for it? Worry no more! Doc from rabidhardware.com shows us how to employ 7 Cyrix processors to build a spectacular cooking device. Cooking instructions not included. Void where prohibited."
While Intel recently made this impossible via their Speedstep technology, Cyrix is right on the bleeding edge of multitaskable (computing/ cooking) CPU's. For this, i salute them.
Will wank off Linus Torvalds for fame.
Wouldnt a Pentium 4 be better for this?
"To do this we'll be using 7 6x86 Cyrix CPUs ranging from 100mhz to 150mhz, dissipating an upwards of 20+ watts each. All chips will be supplied with 5v regardless of their original requirements, which I imagine will also improve the thermal output."
Wouldn't this void the warranty?
It could be worse, it could be Monday.
1) Host server on Cyrix processor.
2) Post on Slashdot.
3) Watch food get cooked.
Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
How can a single 7805 rated for a maximum Icc of 1A provide the couple dozen amperes to provide even the output equivalent to an Easy-bake oven?
My inner child just got the shit kicked out of him by my inner skeptic who says, This should have waited a few weeks for 1 April
How does the Slashdot Effect happen given that no slashdotters ever RTFA?
Fish and chips anyone?
Omnis amans amens
That said, an interesting use of old CPUs. I wouldn't think that they would be hot enough, but I guess it makes sense. I heard that when the Intel guys finished designing the origional Pentium, someone gave the head designer a hotplate as a gift because the hotplate had the same thermal dissapation (W/cm^2) as the Pentium.
That said, the hack would have been more impressive if the processors were running Seti@Home at the time. But then it would be hard to get them all right next to eachother like that.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
From the printable version: http://www.rabidhardware.net/index.php?id=44&print able=yes
Welcome to the 21st century. The age of conservation, renewable materials and Jolene Blalock. As we're urged to replace our gaming equipment on a weekly basis, many tonnes of silicon, lead, and copies of Daikatana make it into our planet's landfills.
At RabidHardware we strive to be environmentally sound (so says our lawyers). By re-using hardware we would have so hastily discarded in our youth, we can now give our dear Earth a new lease on life. Seeing how the Great White North is in the middle of one of the more colder winters as of late, and I'm on a budget (read: cheap bastard), I figure we could get two birds stoned at once with this latest project: A CPU-driven hotplate.
Enter the intrepid Cyrix(tm) Central Processing Unit. Instead of piling the landfills with these retired, non-biodegradable heathens (or donating them to NASA for shuttle heat shielding), we may as well put em to further use. So what do we do instead you ask? Well, there is only one thing a Cyrix CPU does well besides reflecting heat, and that is producing it.
To do this we'll be using 7 6x86 Cyrix CPUs ranging from 100mhz to 150mhz, dissipating an upwards of 20+ watts each. All chips will be supplied with 5v regardless of their original requirements, which I imagine will also improve the thermal output.
These be my materials:
- 7 Cyrix CPUs (1x PR120, 4x PR166s, 2x PR200s)
- Lexan sheet for CPU base
- aluminum/copper/cookie sheet for hotplate surface
- AT 250W power supply
- wire, solder, fixin's
- 7805 Voltage Regulator
After a quick look at this handy chart, I've decided to use pins A7 (core voltage) and B10 (ground) for our electrical connections.
Step 1 - Processors
First off, clean up the procs in question, as stuff like ancient heatsink compound or warranty stickers (that haven't already burned off of course) will impede heat transfer!
Most important thing we need to do is supply power to these little thermo-electric heaters of ours. All we need to do is run a 12v rail from the power supply into the voltage regulator (which will output +5v @ 1A) and connect the procs in parallel:
I realize there may be a better way to do this but we don't have time for rational thought. After all, my bacon expires tomorrow and I am VERY hungry! I also realize we could just use the 5v rail directly off the power supply. The reason for the VRE though is to regulate the amperage available to our hotplate while adding an extra stop-gap to keep our high quality power supply from exploding (prematurely?). SAFETY FIRST!
Feel free to remove the surrounding pins for easier soldering, sure as hell won't be needing them anymore!
Step 2 - Goop
Next off, we'll need to create our most excellent thermal interface. The Arctic Silver 3 which I've had in my toolkit for several years should do nicely, as it has a peak temperature of 180c. Feel free to don a piece of plastic or your favourite straight razor (preferably bloodless) to develop that sexy paper-thin layer of arctic goop, but I'm sort of in a rush.
You may have noticed we've also attached a heatsink to the regulator. Unfortunately, as Thermaltake or Alpha haven't made performance VRE heatsinks (yet), I had to go with a generic brand. Don't worry though, we'll make up for the performance loss later.
Once you've got your transfer medium installed, it's time to add the hotplate surface. I went with a generic piece of metal from a cookie sheet, but a aluminum or copper sheet would do better. I'm assuming you'll be lapping the side that the procs will be in contact with, right? Once it's ready, position your hotplate surface and press down to further spread around that silvery goodness.
Now is probably as good a time as any to mention: As with any of my projects, make sure you have a fire extinguisher and bomb squad nearby. Again, SAFETY FIRST!
At RabidHardware we're always in for any extra per
sorry about that formated the link badly http://www.rabidhardware.net.nyud.net:8090/index.p hp?id=44
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
5 cavity HV Klystron (satellite transmitter)
TSSP unit (shouldn't have gotten that hot, but did)
Hang some grub in front of the dish and crank 'er up to 7200 watts
Manifold of a diesel generator (obviously)
Ah, those were the days...
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
Thanks...I'd been trying it with a match and a tree branch, but I can't seem to get the precision I need. Seriously, any suggestions?
Here is a mirror, as I have found the site to be /.'d already.
I'm not good in groups. It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent. - Q
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:N6NjjllZah8J: www.rabidhardware.net/index.php%3Fid%3D44+&hl=en
Sounds like a chapter from the BOFH cook-book.
You know you have failed in the processor market when people are cooking up ideas to use your processors to cook food instead of crunch numbers.
To make a simple processor BBQ just get a big box of old processors, a can of petrol and a metal brazier.
Put the chips and the petrol in the brazier, set it on fire and cook stuff on top. If the flames begin to die down add more wood, chips ( if you have them ) or any other junk to sustain the heating reaction.
Will my food cook faster if I use processors that support MMX, SSE or 3DNow!?
Ok, that is cool. But as I am stuck with an electric stove at home I have a bit of a rant to add.
Electric coils don't heat evenly, and I always get nasty hot spots when cooking. (Yum, burnt on the left side, raw on the right)
To get around this nasty problem I use my cast-iron for almost everything I cook. It's big and heavy and disperses the heat better than anything else I own. If you don't have one, a 12" cast iron skillet is one of the best pan investments you can make.
We are the Borg...
Electric stoves are for amateurs.
Just like electric windings are for armatures.
Do you see?
I personally preffer to fry my eggs on an Athlon XP. Just make sure it's an original Athlon as new ones run too damn cool.
well...on the upside... now if someone comes into your room and asks you all sarcastic "are you cooking somthing in here or what?" you can say
"YES!"
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This is MY galaxy...go find your OWN!
The sentence that is often missing in articles like this one is "Before proceeding further, make sure you have a back-up copy of your house".
AccountKiller
Here is post of mine on Slashdot where I mentioned that a CPU hotplate would be cool.
Just for future reference if we are going to make my posts come true - I'd like a Porsche or Paris Hilton.
Thanks.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
Get a decent soldering station with sponge and adjustable wattage (or if you really want to spend money adjustable temperature.) They are suprisingly affordable, also for a while you won't need a soldering ironas much as you will need a breadboard and lots of wire.
Just about any multimeter will do, even a $5 analog one, most of the time it is more a question of presence and magnitude rather then particular readings. (Though the nicer ones do have some cool features).
Look at http://www.sparkfun.com/ for your starting out. Lots of tutorials, a forum, a well stocked supportive store, and unlike digikey it has a limited enough selection that you won't feel like you are paging through a large city's phone book.
Do eventually sign up for digikey/mouser/future etc. catalogs though, just don't let them intimidate you.
The real hard part is finding a project.
I'd do something interesting, but my server can't handle a slashdotting.
I have a hard time believing this. What are the processors actually doing? If you simply power up processors without being connected to chipset or memory they won't do a whole lot. Most likely it would get through reset (assuming reset doesn't do any chipset queries, etc.), then put out a Code Fetch for the reset vector, which would never come back, then it would go into some sort of shutdown state. So I find it hard to believe that just powering up processors would produce that much heat. There are specific workloads which could be used to maximize power throughput, but obviously they are not at work here.
Bad idea to just burn up old Cyrix chips: if you have a Cyrix motherboard of just the right make and model, you can flip it on Ebay as it will be quite valuable.
The reason is that Williams Pinball made their final two pinball machines with Cyrix motherboards, before going out of business in 1999: "Revenge From Mars" and "Star Wars Episode I".
Because they went out of business before completing their plans to make the game software more portable to newer motherboards, these pinball machines work ONLY with these certain Cyrix motherboards!
The motherboard is Cyrix MediaGX, BAT form factor, with the CX5520 bridge. Not CX5510, and not CX5530. CPU speed should be 233 Mhz (33x7), but 266 and 200 are also rumoured to work.
A motherboard that matches this description is quite rare these days, and sells for $300 or more -- ironically, twice the price of that motherboard when it was new!
So, if you have an old Cyrix motherboard sitting around, it just might be a gold mine, think of that before melting those chips onto a hotplate....
Dr. Demento On The 'Net!