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QDI P5i430vx 250dm Explorer II from 1996 ?

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First post, by user33331

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Hello
Is this Pentium 1 motherboard a good high end one (no entry level/low cost/budget motherboard ?) and easy to use ? They appear to be very common.
QDI P5i430vx 250dm Explorer II :
http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/Archive/Qdi%20- … ls/430vxe22.pdf
- It has just 48mb of memory "max is 128mb" manual says 1x 3.3V DIMM.
( I have multiple 1x SDRAM 128mb from PIII(3)+Socket 462(A) PC-100/133mhz combs but they probably don't fit.)
- GPU= S3 Trio 64 PCI 😒 Oh no. 🤣 This I know it is bad.
- Sound card= OPTi 82C929A ISA https://www.philscomputerlab.com/82c929a.html

This should be the latest BIOS ?=http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/Archive/Qdi%20- … R_II/index.html

What is the real deal with using a PCI sound card or a ISA sound card ?
- Should I use a PCI Sound Blaster Live! 1999 card ?
or
- Should I use a ISA card: ESS ES1869F 1996-97 or OPTi 82C929A 1996 ?

Reply 1 of 7, by appiah4

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I have an Explorer I, which is fairly similar:

QDI_Explorer_I_P5_I430_VX.jpg

It has been serving perfectly well in my Pentium 133 Build for a year now. It's not a high end board, obviously, being a 430VX chipset, but it's very reliable for a budget board. The Explorer I is not compatible with K6-2 and other low voltage processors, maybe Exporer II is better in this regard, but I would still not consider it for a Super Socket 7 build regardless. for a P54C/P55C or K5/K6 build it's a good workhorse but not a speed demon.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 2 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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The Explorer I is not compatible with K6-2 and other low voltage processors

If it can do at least 2.8v (MMX support), then it's compatible.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 3 of 7, by appiah4

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The Serpent Rider wrote:

The Explorer I is not compatible with K6-2 and other low voltage processors

If it can do at least 2.8v (MMX support), then it's compatible.

It can only go down to 2.5V, it can't do 2.2V-2.4V

https://www.arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/m/P-R/33900.htm

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 4 of 7, by dionb

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user33331 wrote:

Hello
Is this Pentium 1 motherboard a good high end one (no entry level/low cost/budget motherboard ?) and easy to use ?

Define "high end"? Or "no entry level"? This is an i430VX chipset, which was the low-end partner to the high-end i430HX chipset (both shared the "Triton II" monniker)

As for which cards you should use - that depends a lot on what you intend to use it for / which OS you intend to run on it. Same applies for whether it's a good idea or not.

Reply 5 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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It can only go down to 2.5V

It does not matter, slight overvoltage won't do anything. AMD K6-2 can work at 2.8v without any issues.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 6 of 7, by user33331

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Ok. It was the older Explorer I (one) afterall.(with Pentium 120 MHz)
So AMD K6-I: only "200 Mhz" from 1997-98 is the fastest ?
No jumper settings above +200 Mhz ?

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Reply 7 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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Pentium MMX 233 interprets 1.5x multiplier as 3.5x.
AMD K6-2 interprets 2x multiplier as 6x (only "Chomper" version) and 1.5x as 3.5x
I think Cyrix M2 behaves the same way, i.e. 1.5x = 3.5x.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

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