Slot 2

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This article is about a PC processor socket. For SLOT-2 on a Nintendo DS, see Nintendo DS storage devices.

Slot 2.

Slot 2 refers to the physical and electrical specification for the 330-lead edge-connector used by some of Intel's Pentium II Xeon and certain models of the Pentium III Xeon.

When first introduced, Slot 1 Pentium IIs were intended to replace the Pentium and Pentium Pro processors in the home, desktop, and low-end SMP markets. The Pentium II Xeon, which was aimed at high end multi-processor workstations and servers, was largely similar to the later Pentium IIs, being based on the same P6 Deschutes core, aside from a wider choice of L2 cache ranging from 512 to 2048 KiB and a full-speed off-die L2 cache (the Pentium 2 used cheaper 3rd party SRAM chips, running at 50% cpu speed, to save money).

Because the design of the 242-lead Slot 1 connector did not support the full-speed L2 cache of the Xeon, an extended 330-lead connector was developed. This new connector, dubbed 'Slot 2', was used for Pentium 2 Xeons and the first two Pentium III Xeon cores, codenamed 'Tanner' and 'Cascades'. Slot 2 was finally replaced with the socket 370 'Tualatin' cored chips; some of the Tualatin Pentium IIIs were packaged as 'Pentium III' and some as 'Xeon', despite the fact they were identical.