Question about an old QDI Explorer II board and memory

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Someone
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Question about an old QDI Explorer II board and memory

Post by Someone »

I have the following problem:

The internet page of QDI says that this board can have only 32MB SDRAM in its DIMM slot, but manual says it handles 64MB. Which is more likely correct?

http://www.qdigrp.com/qdisite/eng/products/vx2.htm
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RE: Question about an old QDI Explorer II board and memory

Post by Jim »

Not sure. I actually had a case or two of those boards and sold them. I downloaded the vx ll zip file, and all it showed was some jumper settings. The other page you linked to shows that the max DIMM size supported is 32 Meg.

Since most boards do not support DIMMs & SIMMs silmultaneously; and since your board will support 4 SIMMs, as opposed to only 1 DIMM, I think you would be best off to try to locate 4x 32 Meg SIMMs. That way you can raise your memory to 128 Meg. You will not be able to do that w/ DIMMs on that board.
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Someone
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Post by Someone »

I had sometimes found the full manual from some net page, but it appears that it isn't anymore in QDIs web page. Anyway, I put it here:

http://koti.mbnet.fi/~jokunen_/430vxe22.pdf

It at least says that it supports 64MB SDRAM, and I think the paper version says the same thing.. have to search the thing. Btw, I recall that VX chipsets didn't support fully more than 64MB RAM or that they required some cache slots to do so, and Windows 95 had also some problems with RAM >64MB. Thats why I would prefer SDRAM if possible, as it is slightly faster than SIMMs.

Also that manual claims the board supports using DIMMs and SIMMs at the same time, don't know how well executed that support is, though. Oh, and does it matter if the DIMM is PC66, PC100 or PC133, as long as it is double-sided?
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Post by Jim »

Don't think I ever did anything w/ one of those boards. I do have the following QDIs left from a four ton truck load that I bought from QDI's warehouse, when they were throwing things out:

1 Explorer 4 ; baby AT, 2 SIMM Slots, 2 DIMM slots, 4 PCI slots. V Core goes from 2.0 v up to 3.5 v in .1 v increments. FSB = 50, 55, 60, 66, 75. Multipliers up to 3.5. Had Generic low level format routine built into bios, till I flashed it. Now gone, May reflash to original bios if I can find it.

NOTE : Have not found any SDRAM sticks larger than 32 Meg that will work in this board.

1 Titanium 1B+ Baby AT; 2 DIMMs; 4 SIMMs; 4 PCI Slots; V Core from 2.0 v up to 3.5 v in .1 v increments; FSB = 55, 60, 66, 68, 75, 83. Multipliers up to 5.5. in use (occasionally), running 4x 32 Meg SIMMs.

1Excellent 1 Slot 1 baby AT w/ 2 DIMM slots which will support 256 Meg each of EDO DIMMs or 128 Meg of SDRAM each. AGP, 3 PCI, has Slocket w/ 533 Celeron. Not stable at more than that. Apart from that nice little board.

NOTE : I did find 2 sticks of Hynix 256 Meg SDRAM that would work and be fully recognized in this board; but those were the only 256 Meg SDRAM sticks (of many) that I found would do that.

1 Legend 7 (Later renamed "LegenX 7" so "QDI I Legend" could recycle the Legend 7 name on a newer board) -- 370 Socket baby AT w/ 2 DIMM slots AGP slot 3 PCI slots. Will take up to a 533 Celeron; But not stable over 466 MHz, which is what it was designed for.

NOTE: I have not been able to find SDRAM that works in this board (Legend 7), except for two very old 32 Meg matching sticks of Compac SDRAM.

This I can say. It may be that it will technically support more than 32 Meg in its DIMM slot, but I doubt that you will readily find any SDRAM larger than 32 Meg that will work in it.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
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Post by Someone »

Yes.. I did some searching with google and found out that 64MB DIMMs would have to be double sided and double height to work.. so I guess that I will stick to SIMMs.

But thanks for help.
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tazwegion
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Post by tazwegion »

Jim you entrepreneur you! :banana

My AOpen SS7 supports simultaneous 72pin & SDR operation... but I'm told that in doing so I effectively lose one SDRAM slot, I don't know it that's the case with other boards or not...

I also found this tidbit of info' over @ the FIC site RE: the use of 5v simms & 3.3v dimms consequentially ;)
FIC tech support wrote:Although it is widespread, DIMMs and SIMMs should not be used together, since the output signal of 5V memories can damage 3.3V memories. After some period of time, the 3.3V chips might malfunction.
Certainly food for thought eh? :)
Last edited by tazwegion on Sun Feb 19, 2006 6:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jim
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Post by Jim »

BTW, I don't know if you are interested; but I still have the "EXcellent 1" that I mentioned;

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which was the board that I took out of Superpuppy-2 when I upgraded it. Has chipset fan kit installed, and comes w/ slocket & 533 celeron.

Also have the Legend 7 board w/ 370 socket if you prefer. Can let go of either very cheap as I will never use them.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
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Post by cake »

Damnit Jim, you bring my collection of vintage equipment to shame :lol:
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tazwegion
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Post by tazwegion »

I appreciate the offer... and the chipset coolers do look sweet... but sadly I must decline as I've already a s370 w/ 533CeleronA doing 'nada' in a drawer here :(

Lately... I've not been buying technology prior to socketA, the only exception I might one day make it to purchase a K63 (to run my Epox) for mere nostalgia reasons :D
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Post by Jim »

Don't know about that Cake; you have one of the "Much Despised" Rev 106 P5A-Bs. Given the results that Peter is getting w/ one of those boards, that might be the best Super 7 of all. Am interested in acquiring one.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Actually the offer was directed to "Someone", though if anyone else is interested, say $10.00 plus shipping costs.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Someone
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Post by Someone »

@ Jim:

Thanks, but no thanks. I probably could get a 750MHz Slot A Athlon and board from a friend with around the same cost, as shipping to Europe would probably be rather expensive. Besides, Im mostly going to upgrade my old computer for fun. :)
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KachiWachi
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Post by KachiWachi »

i430VX can only take 32 MB DIMMS (16 Mbit Technology). That being said, there were some 64 MB DIMMS produced (32 chips, double height and sided boards). AJZ over at the PCChips Lottery once posted a pic of these for me (I can't find it at the moment however :( ).

The problem with them is that they require the space to install them, plus they use a lot of power.

i430VX will support 128 MB of SIMM (Four 32 MB sticks, 16 chips each) with no trouble.

You CANNOT use SDRAM and EDO together, unless the SDRAM is COMPLETELY 5V TOLERANT, and the board is setup to recognize the banking properly.

Some DIMMS were made with EDO...watch out for those!

At 66 MHz FSB, having SDRAM over EDO is not a real performance hit. Once you hit 100 MHz, then you *will* start to see the difference.
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PC #1 - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), 128 MB EDO. BIOS patched by Jan Steunebrink.
PC #2 - Amptron PM-7900 (M520), i200 non-MMX, 128 MB EDO
PC #3 - HP8766C, PIII-667, 768 MB SDRAM
PC #4 - ASUS P3V4X, PIII-733, 256 MB SDRAM
PC #5 - Gateway 700X, P4-2.0 GHz, 768 MB PC800 RDRAM
PC #6 - COMPAQ Evo N1020v laptop, P4-2.4 GHz, 1 GB PC2700 DDR
PC #7 - Dell Dimension 4600i, P4-2.8 GHz, 512 MB PC2700 DDR
PC #8 - Acer EeePC netbook, Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz, 1 GB RAM
PC #9 - ??? ;)
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tazwegion
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Post by tazwegion »

@ KachiWachi... Not sure what flavour the 72pin modules were... but they definitely worked in conjustion with a (generic) PC66 module on my AOpen AX59pro, next time I'm working on my Linux router box, I'll pay a little more attention to the 72pin modules ;)

EDIT: just checked, and it's definitely EDO that I used with the generic PC66 SDR module... I assume the AX59pro is 'setup' for such configurations as my FIC VA-502 (which supports both) can't be configured to run 72pin EDO & SDR simultaneously :twisted:
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Post by KachiWachi »

Here is the 32-chip, 64 MB DIMM image -

Image
Moderator - Wim's BIOS

PC #1 - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), 128 MB EDO. BIOS patched by Jan Steunebrink.
PC #2 - Amptron PM-7900 (M520), i200 non-MMX, 128 MB EDO
PC #3 - HP8766C, PIII-667, 768 MB SDRAM
PC #4 - ASUS P3V4X, PIII-733, 256 MB SDRAM
PC #5 - Gateway 700X, P4-2.0 GHz, 768 MB PC800 RDRAM
PC #6 - COMPAQ Evo N1020v laptop, P4-2.4 GHz, 1 GB PC2700 DDR
PC #7 - Dell Dimension 4600i, P4-2.8 GHz, 512 MB PC2700 DDR
PC #8 - Acer EeePC netbook, Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz, 1 GB RAM
PC #9 - ??? ;)
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