Do you happen to remember Powerleap? A company successfully demonstrating how CPU, chipset and mainboard makers try to sponge the money from the public. We remember it pretty well too :) (Those who are not familiar with all the aspects of Powerleap activity should at least recall the adapters which allowed for Coppermine and later Tualatin CPUs to be used on old Socket370 mainboards).
Today Powerleap has got another pleasant product for us. This time it will be an adapter (special thanks to the French web-site Clubic for the info) that will allow using Socket478 CPUs on old Socket423 (Pentium 4) mainboards.
It works for both 0.18-micron Willamette and 0.13-micron Northwood (the adapter is equipped with an independent voltage regulator), which makes the novelty a universal headache remedy for the owners of old Pentium 4 based systems.
The new PL-P4/N adapter is reported to start shipping in February. Its estimated retail price is not available yet, but judging by the prices for the previous devices, we assume it will fall between $60-70. This is a really cheaper way out than buying a new mainboard which would only have a different CPU socket.