Low Performance on K6-2 500 and Gigabyte Ga-5AX

Discussion relating to Socket 7 hardware.
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KGB
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Low Performance on K6-2 500 and Gigabyte Ga-5AX

Post by KGB »

I've had this board for over 3 years now.. I finally got it up and running in the past few weeks. I originally had a Asus 7100 GF/MX2 it worked fine. I even got Windows 2000 Pro installed on it. Now however I can barely install Win98Se. I can't install Windows XP nor any other OS. (linux too)

Specs are:
Gigabyte GA-5AX
K6-2 500
256 MB PC100 Ram
Toshiba 16x DvD
WD 20Gb HDD (7200 rpm)
ESS 688 ISA sound card
3 Com Etherlink Network Card PCI (10 Mbs)
USB Scroll Mouse Microsoft
Radeon LE (flashed BIOS to regular Radeon 32MB DDR)

The system is killer slow.. boots fast.. but running Winamp 2.8 and Internet Explorer takes a HUGE toll on this machine. Anyone have any ideas to make it faster? Like More Ram? Faster HDD?

I was thinking would a Geforce FX... MX line be overkill for this machine? I was looking forward to it during the summer :)
feizex
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hmm

Post by feizex »

only thing that I see bad is that ISA sound card.

how do you access the internet? Winmodem?
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mahto
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Post by mahto »

make sure L2 cache is enabled in BIOS
since the k6-2 doesn't have any it's pretty slow
if you can find a k6-2+, you'll see an improvement

strange about os install...
have you checked hdd for errors?

gl
"Better to die on your feet
than to live on your knees"
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KGB
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Post by KGB »

It's very strange. I had to put the HDD in ANOTHER machine... install Win98Se on that and swap the HDD back into the GA-5AX(rev 5.2). Booted up fine... mind you I didn't install any drivers from the donor machine. That's how I got the OS on the K6-2 or else it would not do it by itself. I would constantly get errors (98 & 2k)

How is the ISA sound card a problem? Is it too old? Should I get a dedicated APU? Like a Santa Cruz? Does the ISA sound use Cpu clock?

Yes the Onboard 512K cache is enabled.. yeah I know its only 100 mhz since it goes on the FSB. Would a K6-3+ 450 be very effective in it? My local retailers only carry k6-2's, do any online retailers sell it?

I'll try and changing the sound card and see how that works...
I have a LAN setup from a Linksys router/switch. I do have a 3Com 56K Isa Modem also.. but I don't use it no more, it's just in the machine.
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mahto
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Post by mahto »

when installing os try it w/only essential hardware
cpu, 1 ram, cd, floppy, vga, 1 hdd
then add 1 device at a time and restart and test each one
maybe you can find what's holding you up :wink:

later
"Better to die on your feet
than to live on your knees"
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KGB
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Re: hmm

Post by KGB »

feizex wrote:only thing that I see bad is that ISA sound card.

how do you access the internet? Winmodem?
Man were YOU right. I took out the ISA sound card.. put in a Conexant Riptide SOund card/ 56K modem Combo PCi device. I can freely surf the net and use winamp. Holy S its like I releived the system of chores...

well next is the vga upgrade :D
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mahto
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Post by mahto »

yeah, anything you can do to relieve the load on your cpu
hardware sound, nic, etc
and usb usually hogs cpu cycles too

a 64mb GTS vid card would be sweet
i've got a 32mb and it only really chokes on heavy textures
a gf4 460 might be nice; don't know if ati has ss7 support anymore
installed a couple saphire 7500 64mb recently; nice budget card

gl
"Better to die on your feet
than to live on your knees"
3uuuouus
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Post by 3uuuouus »

Hi, KGB

I use the same motherboard and CPU.

I would recommend reducing the RAM to 128MBs -- the GA-5AX's 512K L2 only caches that amount. Going beyond that will only noticeably slow the computer, not make it faster.

ISA sound cards aren't ideal for DVD playback; otherwise they shouldn't impact performance in any significant way.

I run my 2.2v 500MHz K6-2 at 540 with a 120 bus. It only takes a small voltage increase to get it stable: 2.3 volts.

USB doesn't hurt performance in any significant way, with this board.

I have everything on the PCI bus. I never had much luck with the AGP bus, except for old 1x/2x compliant cards. Presently, I use a Radeon 7200 PCI card, and it works flawlessly.

Linux, has a few little problems with Super 7 chipsets, that may be solvable, I don't know, but expect that. It generally should work though. I use RedHat 6.0 with a Compaq Deskpro and Intel chipset, and it's very good. I don't know about newer versions of Linux with old Super 7 chipsets; maybe compatibility has improved.

You can boost I/O voltage with the GA-5AX. I've had the bus running at 130 with I/O at 3.58 volts.

Good luck.
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KGB
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Post by KGB »

Urrrgh here I go again... an update..

Ga-A5AX
K6-2 550 (FSB 100, Mulplier 5.5)
128 MB PC100
Toshiba 16X DVD
Maxtor 40 GB 5400 rpm HDD
Radeon 32MBDDR (AGP)
3Com Network Card (PCI)
Linksys Network Card (PCI)
NEC USB 2.0 Card (PCI)
ESS 1868 Sound Card (ISA)
3Com Winmodem (ISA)
6-1 Media Card Reader (Internal)
Windows 2000

Everything works OKAY... except I cannot PASS Prime95 with the L2 Cache ON nor does windows load correctly

When L2 Cache is disabled the system is good... even passes Prime 95. Any cures available? Is my L2 onboard cache corrupted?
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