Where would I find the BIOS for the EFA board?

According to motherboard.cz, the EFA board supports K6-3s up to 450Mhz.

I have chosen a board! The Asus P5A-B!

Scratch that, teh Asus isn't tested. Found a patched bios for the EFA, going with THAT. MAN this is hard! 😁

The Motherboard arrived yesterday! The Asus P5A! I chose it because it is essentially the GA-5AX that I wanted. Same chipset, same expansion capabilities, same everything. I'll post pics tomorrow!

Great choice, simply love those boards. If you want the very best overclocker: GA-5AX.
Otherwise the P5A is just as good and a great board.

Which revision is it? If you ever want to use an amd k6-2+ or k6-3+ (+ = mobile version) remember that only rev. 103 and 1.04 can run them.

Normal (non plus) amd cpu's run fine on any revision. 1.05 and 1.06 use the newer chipset revision. Same story for P5A-B.

1.03 and 1.04 : amd K6 ''+'' cpu support. only 128mb cacheable ram.

1.05 and 1.06 : no support for amd K6 ''+'' cpu (runs VERY slow with them). cacheable ram 512mb.

I'll have to check. LUckily, it shipped with a K6-II, so I can use that if need be.

I just confirmed that it is a Rev 1.03 board! I can use the K6-III+! Woo!

That's a winner of a board. I too have the same board and revision. So go grab a K6-3+ and give it a whirl. It's a bit cramped on space for the heatsink, so it it came with one, then just use it. The + series ran cooler than previous series, so the heatsink for the old K6-2 should be plenty fine.

meljor wrote:

Great choice, simply love those boards. If you want the very best overclocker: GA-5AX. Otherwise the P5A is just as good and a […]
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Great choice, simply love those boards. If you want the very best overclocker: GA-5AX.
Otherwise the P5A is just as good and a great board.

Which revision is it? If you ever want to use an amd k6-2+ or k6-3+ (+ = mobile version) remember that only rev. 103 and 1.04 can run them.

Normal (non plus) amd cpu's run fine on any revision. 1.05 and 1.06 use the newer chipset revision. Same story for P5A-B.

1.03 and 1.04 : amd K6 ''+'' cpu support. only 128mb cacheable ram.

1.05 and 1.06 : no support for amd K6 ''+'' cpu (runs VERY slow with them). cacheable ram 512mb.

Cachable RAM only affects the onboard cache on the motherboard, you can still disable the external cache if you have a K6-III or any of the + models since they have on-die L2 cache runing at full CPU clock

I've already picked up a 3+ 450. It came with a Cooler so I'm gonna use it.

Alright! The build has begun!
The motherboard is in, as is the graphics card!
The only problem I had was with the I/O shield. It wouldn't fit. It almost seems too big for the cutout in the case, which is a standard ATX case. Any ideas?

Trim it up with a dremel if it is larger than standard. I had to do that to one out of an IBM Aptiva.

Dang... I was afraid of that. But it is the I/O shield that came with the P5A. Shouldn't it fit? ATX is ATX, right?

ATX is ATX, so it should fit. I've found a few shields that were very problematic over the years. I'd consider going without it, if it means attacking the case.

I'm thinking about just leaving it out.

The main reason for the shield is to prevent RF leakage from interfering with other devices. Never in my life have I ever encountered anything that was affected from RF generated by PC. Besides the appearance, the shield does little else. Yeah, it helps direct airflow, and provides a stronger grounding point. But both of those benefits are very minor. The single biggest downside to not installing it is the cosmetics. So don't worry about it, and get that rig up and going. Good luck with the build.

Thanks! Sounds good!

The shield prevents mice from making a nest inside 😀

OMG! Many years ago, I worked on an old file server at a law office, and there was a dead ( and quite rotted) field mouse laying in the bottom. I swear there was no way for it to get into the case, and clearly it couldn't get out. I can only assume it got it when it was built at Dell, and just got trapped.