Some general questions and "Hello"

[Space Cowboy]

First of all: Hi everybody.

This is my first post here, though I have visited the forum on numerous occasions since I found it a couple of years ago. Sometimes nostalgia hits me badly, sometimes I try to revive my arcade cabinet project, but anyway - I enjoy each visit here. I think ... I really think now is the proper time to turn this readings in a real hobby. Thus, a little help would be greatly appreciated.

An year ago, I used to run a pentium 3 tualatin as to satisfy my ... hm, nostalgia, but it just doesn't have the flavor of the Socket 7.

Here (eastern Europe), hardware from the socket 7 (super 7) era is deadly hard to obtain - the majority of mainboards were Acorp Ali 5 based (Acorp 5ALI61) - I have one of these, along with a k6-2 450 CPU, but both of them I've retired to my villa - they are a poor substitute to the true K6+.

So, let me ask you a few questions before I start my weekend run in the stores of the second hand parts dealers.

I got the impression, that you generally prefer Asus P5A-B over the P5A? Same for Gigabyte GA-5AA over the GA-5AX. Why? The first ones are smaller, have less PCI slots and lack the PS2 support. And one more question - what is the approximate advantage of the (more vs. less) onboard L2(L3 for the K6+) cache and which boards have 2MB,if I am to go for them?

DFI K6BV3+ is impossible to find here, I believe, so are the FIC boards (never seen or heard of any).

So ... any other board that worths mentioning? I prefer the Ali 5 chipset. You might ask "Why"? Let me share some experience with you - long long ago, a colleague of mine told me, that after numerous of tests with memory modules at work (a small PC support company), he managed to run his Asus Ali5 with 2x512 SD-RAM under Linux. I have not saw it with my eyes,( and I lost the track of this person, so I can't ask him), but a true fact is that he bought a pair of 512MB sticks of Kingston or Kingmax (can't remember) for his home Asus, and the price of that memory was INSANE back then. I doubt he bought it for no reason.

And this is what I plan to do - run 2x512MB's of SDRAM on Ali5 chipset (the true challenge, I believe, will be to find matched 2 x 512 memory sticks). So ... mainboard suggestions?

The graphic card will be either Matrox G400MAX, or Voodoo5 5500 (when and if I find one - Vodoo3 3000 is a variant too) - anyway, I'm a hardcore Matrox fan so I keep AGP and PCI versions of G450, G550. Sound card ... hm, I have an old Yamaha on a PCI slot here, but I'm sure I'll find something more ... weird

I've already prepared the case, the PSU, a PCI USB 2 card, a PCI Promise IDE controller (though I prefer to find a 3ware or adaptec), 1 x 20GB HDD for OS and 2 x 80GB matched HDDs.

Any advices are welcomed.

Thanks for your time, and ... I'm happy to submit my first post here

[James]

Let us know how it works out. I recently got my old FIC VA-503+ up and running. Been fun to use old software from good old days. I have ATI 7000 AGP card and 512MBs RAM.

[Space Cowboy]

It was not what I was after (namely - the Asus with Ali Aladin 5), but just an hour ago, I was surprised by a fellow from a local hardware forum, who supplied me with an Epox EP-51 MVP3E-M. The board is in unknown condition - the capacitors look perfect, though. So is the boards itself.

I'm into Epox boards since I bought my first 8rda3+ (still working after two recaps). Excellent boards, perfect quality and unmatched value add (I still keep my epox screwdriver, and it was with me today, when I "extracted" the board )

Unfortunately, in 12 hours I'm leaving out of city for a week. Anyway, I'll take my laptop with me, so I'll dig the internet for all the info I can get for this board.

Anyone tried it here? I need a BIOS capable of running the K6+. It's a pity, but the minimum Voltage, set by jumpers, is 2.1V.

No success in finding a K6-3+ CPU yet.

[Jim]

2.1 V is the voltage used to Overclock a K6-3+ 450ACZ to 600MHz - so that part is OK. You can find PCR Files which enable you to run WPCredit, (a program that allows you to access ALL of the chipset settings, - about 20,000 of them), HERE : (though you have to scroll down some to find the downloads)

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1702

As for WPCredit and the BIOS required to run a K6-3+ on an ASUS P5A-B Rev 104, If you give me an address or an email address, I can send you copies of :
WPCredit 1.4
WPCredit SET
The 1011bn005 Bios for an ASUS P5A-B Rev 104

Re finding a BIOS update for your Epox board SEE :

http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/k6plus.htm

[Space Cowboy]

Hi Jim,

I've already checked Jan Steunebrink's site. Unfortunately, that specific Epox model is not present and it has somewhat ... hm, older looking layout than all the other models, supporting the K6+.

I'll send you PM with my mail adress for the Asus files. Thanks

[Jim]

If I were you I would email Jan Stuenebrink and ask him if your board is compatable with the bios listed for Epox boards. Reason being, that your board is a "3E" while the ones listed are "3Cs" and "3Gs" so it would appear that yours is somewhere in the middle.

[James]

Hi Space Cowboy,

I updated my BIOS via http://biosagentplus.com
Sure, it cost some money, but It includes a year subscription and up to 5 PCs. For me, it worked out well.

Regards,
James Cannon

[Space Cowboy]

Hi James,

I contacted Jan Stuenebrink, and I'll try the BIOS he sent me. (an original Epox BIOS, patch by the guys here http://wims.rainbow-software.org/).

Rgrds