Intel Mobile Pentium III 900 socket: Socket 495

What the Mobile Pentium III 900 is

The Intel Mobile Pentium III 900 is a 900 MHz single-core mobile processor from March 2001. It runs one P6 Coppermine core at 900 MHz with no turbo, so 1 core gives 1 thread. Cache is 256 KB of full-speed L2 with 32 KB of L1 on a 180 nm process. Power is rated near 31 W in a Socket 495 micro-PGA2 package on a 100 MHz front side bus with a 9x multiplier at up to 1.7 V with lower battery voltages.

A 100 MHz step below the Mobile 1000 at a close envelope makes the 900 a steady spare for the same pipes, which is why service stocks often pair the two strings. Intel sold the Mobile 900 in March 2001 with the Mobile 1000 value stack. The chip supports MMX, SSE and SpeedStep with battery optimized modes.

Sub-gigahertz mobile clocks with a full cache suit Socket 495 mainstream laptops with SDRAM and chipset graphics. The 9x ratio keeps the 100 MHz bus in spec. That is why the 900 shipped in mainstream laptops with balanced battery targets. A soldered BGA2 counterpart with the same silicon exists for thinner boards; this page covers the socketed package per the socketed-only rule.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

The 900 fits Socket 495 mainstream laptops with Coppermine support. It needs a 495-pin micro-PGA2 board with a 100 MHz bus and a BIOS that lists Mobile Pentium III 900. The Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works guide covers pairing rules.

Mainstream SDRAM laptops are the natural match. Boards listing the Mobile 900 accept the chip with a 31 W heat pipe assembly. Soldered BGA2 boards cannot accept the pinned package.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

Memory is SDRAM through the board chipset, matched to the board slots. The CPU has no memory controller, so the chipset sets the type and speed. Mainstream 440MX and 815E boards commonly run PC100 pairs for 100 MHz mobile parts.

A 100 MHz front side bus ties the CPU to the chipset, while AGP and PCI hang off the chipset. No PCIe lanes originate on the die. Cooling uses the laptop heat pipe for the exact chassis, rated for 31 W with SpeedStep tables.

Upgrade paths

On the same socket, a move to a Mobile Pentium III 1000 such as Intel Mobile Pentium III 1000 keeps the laptop when the support list names it. The 1000 adds 100 MHz at 25 W, so thermals often improve while clocks rise. A Mobile 700 on the same list drops 200 MHz for cooler running.

A move to Pentium III-M Tualatin needs 512 KB cache board support. The Socket 495 page lists the mobile range for planning. Note: the queue row lists 23 W; this page uses the verified 31 W class from the Coppermine mobile tables.