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Some general questions and "Hello"

Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:04 am
by 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 :)

Re: Some general questions and "Hello"

Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 11:42 am
by 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.

Re: Some general questions and "Hello"

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 3:17 am
by 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.

Re: Some general questions and "Hello"

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:38 am
by 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

Re: Some general questions and "Hello"

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 1:32 pm
by 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

Re: Some general questions and "Hello"

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 1:56 pm
by 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.

Re: Some general questions and "Hello"

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 8:39 am
by 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

Re: Some general questions and "Hello"

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 4:02 pm
by 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