D

havli wrote:

I'm not sure about A7M266-D VRM configuration, but my Tyan Tiger MPX draws power from both 5V and 12V rail. Half of the VRM are connected to 5V (first socket) and the rest to 12V (second socket).

Interesting.
I don't recall ever seeing a configuration like that.

[Edit]
Know what - I have one of those Tyan Tiger MPX.
Came in a server chassis I wanted for something else and I never really looked at it.
.

It seems every account is banned outright at Amibay for safety reasons, you'll have to contact someone (like keropi here at Vogons) to unban you account there.

PCBONEZ wrote:

Know what - I have one of those Tyan Tiger MPX.
Came in a server chassis I wanted for something else and I never really looked at it.
.

They were a beast in their day. If you give it a spin, I think you'll have some fun.

PCBONEZ wrote:

havli wrote:

I'm not sure about A7M266-D VRM configuration, but my Tyan Tiger MPX draws power from both 5V and 12V rail. Half of the VRM are connected to 5V (first socket) and the rest to 12V (second socket).

Interesting.
I don't recall ever seeing a configuration like that ...

Never fiddled with one of these but from a distance it looks like the northeastern CPU might draw from +5V, while the southwestern one does from +12V ('P4' connector).

Also there is this quote from Anandtech forum:

... Heck, their dual Athlon board (A7M266-D) had one processor powered from 5V and the other from 12V. Was nice because you could run the system on a 300W power supply.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?s=f9 … 39&postcount=12

EDIT - The subject had already been discussed here at Vogons: Dual Socket A monster

When you think about it it kindda makes sense... Higher end PSUs at that time had to cater both to Socket 462/Slot A systems (predominantly drawing from the 5V line) and Socket 478 systems (heavier 12V loading), so they had the 12V and the 5V rails with a more even distribution. Having each CPU draw power from a different voltage would allow those PSUs to be used at their full capacity.

Cool setup. I have the same board with 2800's. I have used 2 power supplies with success. The first which was an interesting beast as it had that third connector which looks like an old AT connector, was this Aspire 520w model. The second did not have that third connector but was an equally strong one on the required rails. The Aspire seemed a perfect fit. I had no problems with the other one, though the PSU seemed to run quite a bit warmer.

A couple recommendations: this board is somewhat picky about RAM. Use good quality ECC DDR ram and you'll have no issues. Secondly, it is also infamous for having problems with the onboard sound. Disable it and use a PCI sound card. Combined with a good PSU, if you do this you wont have issues, and you will love this board.

I've used it mainly with a ti4600, but also an hd3850 AGP and it was great.

Good luck!

^ Awesome pic of the VRM area.

D

Yep. Same here. This is the only PSU I've seen it on other than old dell PSUs. Funny thing is I had it in the closet and never really realized it had the extra connector until I got the board and was like "wtf is this?" Lol. The other PSU I used didn't have it but I never had any issues. Again though it was a beefier older PSU. I think it had 36 or 40 amps on the 5v rail.

As far as the ram, I think you'll be fine with regular non-ECC but use good stuff if you have it. I can check but I'm 99% sure I have crucial or Kingston sticks so non-generic. The board will work with ECC and non-ECC. As it is technically a server board it was made to use with ECC. I remember having some stability issues and that was when i looked at some old forums that mentioned using ECC ram and disabling the onboard sound. I did both at the same time and never had an issue again. So I'm not sure what fixed it (ram or sound). I am inclined to think it was the sound as a lot of people said the same thing. I would try it with the ram you have and if you don't experience any issues you should be fine.

saturn wrote:

Wow, if that's the case I don't even want to bother doing anything with that site.

Its actually a good thing. People sell and trade stuff there, so they need to be reasonably sure that the person going in there isn't a scammer or anything like that. Its like a firewall with a "default deny" policy 🤣

d

G

It should also be in a separate bus, therefore not affected by sound cards and other PCI stuff slowing the bus down.

saturn wrote:

Would you think an pci-x sata card is worth wile? Or should I just stick with my pci via sata card?
what type of card would you get? I don't know too much about pcix sata cards.

3Ware PCI-X RAID cards are cheap anymore.
PCI-X is independent from the other PCI bus so the two buses aren't sharing their bandwidths.

TELVM wrote:

EDIT - The subject had already been discussed here at Vogons: Dual Socket A monster

I was not on Vogons in 2013.

saturn wrote:

alexanrs wrote:

It seems every account is banned outright at Amibay for safety reasons, you'll have to contact someone (like keropi here at Vogons) to unban you account there.

Also petro89, do you have to use that at like connector? I only seen it on oem dell crap my self.

Should be able to find them at electronics supply houses like Mouser and Digikey.

alexanrs wrote:

When you think about it it kindda makes sense... Higher end PSUs at that time had to cater both to Socket 462/Slot A systems (predominantly drawing from the 5V line) and Socket 478 systems (heavier 12V loading), so they had the 12V and the 5V rails with a more even distribution. Having each CPU draw power from a different voltage would allow those PSUs to be used at their full capacity.

>> so they had the 12V and the 5V rails with a more even distribution. <<
Yes, that does make a lot of sense.

D

It's in the era when I would be suspicious. Snap some photos and post them if you like.