Isn't the fun of running a slot A AMD Athlon to use the AMD Irongate chipset?

By default, the VIA KX133 chipset does not support the AMD Thunderbird with clock speeds greater than 800 MHz. The reason: Too high interference rates in the clock signal prevent stable operation. The AMD-751 does not have this problem and works fine with the >800 MHz Slot A T-Birds.

The Asus K7V-T is the only VIA KX133 mainboard with official T-Bird 1 GHz support. Not the normal K7V! I use the K7V-T for my AMD Athlon 1 GHz T-Bird Slot A build. Before, I have used a Epox 7KXA Rev. 0.4 with a 750Mhz T-Bird Slot A, which runs fine, but with the 1Ghz version, freezes all the time, after the bios screen...the 1Ghz Orion Version should work fine with all KX133 mainboards on the market.

Here is a small boot video of my Slot A system:

feipoa wrote on 2020-04-23, 20:34:

Isn't the fun of running a slot A AMD Athlon to use the AMD Irongate chipset?

I'd say the fun is using the big upside down slot ^^

NostalgicAslinger wrote on 2020-04-23, 20:44:

The AMD-751 does not have this problem and works fine with the >800 MHz Slot A T-Birds.

That is not universally true.
None of my 5(!) K7 pros work without hanging after a random time with my 2 tbirds 1000. No pb at 950 (as in 95*10), or in my gigabyte boards (7ix & 7ixe)

Also, nice wallpaper.

sunaiac wrote on 2020-04-23, 21:16:

That is not universally true. None of my 5(!) K7 pros work without hanging after a random time with my 2 tbirds 1000. No pb at 9 […]
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NostalgicAslinger wrote on 2020-04-23, 20:44:

The AMD-751 does not have this problem and works fine with the >800 MHz Slot A T-Birds.

That is not universally true.
None of my 5(!) K7 pros work without hanging after a random time with my 2 tbirds 1000. No pb at 950 (as in 95*10), or in my gigabyte boards (7ix & 7ixe)

Also, nice wallpaper.

Thanks, good to know that also some AMD-751 mainboards have problems with fast T-Birds, maybe some later Revisions are better? I only have one 751 mainboard here, the Asus K7M with Northbridge Rev. C3, no Super Bypass support for better performance. C4 and above is the way to go for this feature.

I came into this topic, and read it all, and was preparing to post "Oh, I also have a Thunderbird 700", but then I checked my inventory and I actually have a Pluto 800, for better or worse..

I plan to put together a Win98/2K dual boot system some day, either with this or with a Duron 1300.

Here is a picture from the side:

Hi! This message from my gigabyte ga7vm (chipset kx133)

Here's mine, still unfinished. Did score a NOS Golden Orb, waiting for the NB, RAM and V3 coolers.

I have the pluto 700, is it worth replacing it with the T-bird 700?

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-04, 08:34:

I have the pluto 700, is it worth replacing it with the T-bird 700?

First of all, nice build you have there. Congrats! 😀
I would say that no. Based on my tests, the Thunderbird is actually slower, less overclockable (not to mention that your Pluto might hide a faster CPU die under the hood).
Also, IMO, the TB is not as cool as the Pluto (not talking about thermodynamics, I'm talking about prestige 😁 ).
Overall, Thunderbirds are adequate for Socket A (at faster clock speeds), while Pluto/Orion is the king of Slot A.

Thanks! 😀

Have to open it then, but I can't do anything without the GF probably, even if it is a downclocked faster die?

Thank you for the info, I only dreamed about K7 Slot A when they were new, so don't have a lot of first hand experience with them.

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-04, 08:57:

Have to open it then, but I can't do anything without the GF probably, even if it is a downclocked faster die?

Be careful when you try and open it. There's a real risk of permanent damage if you've never done it before. 😀
Yes, for optimal results a GF would be ideal. See this thread, you can now order all GF components and build your own GF clone (some members of this forum also used to sell pre-built GF clones).
Another overclocking option you have is to increase the FSB speed. I see you have a board with an AMD 751 chipset, which - based on my experience with my Gigabyte GA-7IXE boards - should be 100% stable at up to 110 MHz FSB speed (sometimes even 115 MHz).

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-04, 08:57:

Thank you for the info, I only dreamed about K7 Slot A when they were new, so don't have a lot of first hand experience with them.

You're welcome. Yep, me too. I was crying when using my K6-2 500 MHz CPU and reading Anandtech articles. 🤣

Will try only raising the FSB first, probably not worth OC-ing it too much anyway. Slot A are hard to find, so I want to keep this one alive 😀 I'm using it with V3, so not much to gain with a faster cpu anyway.

K7 pro is messed up though. Can't get usb to work no matter what. It installs normally, but when you insert a flash drive, it disconnects and connects in circles. Caps seem fine, but maybe it would be best to do a full recap.

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-04, 09:22:

Will try only raising the FSB first, probably not worth OC-ing it too much anyway. Slot A are hard to find, so I want to keep this one alive 😀

Good call. 😀

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-04, 09:22:

I'm using it with V3, so not much to gain with a faster cpu anyway.

Yeah. The Voodoo 3 is a cool card & all, but I would say that it falls a bit short when used in conjunction with an Athlon. In certain games (at low resolutions), the card does scale well up to ~ 1 GHz Athlon/Pentium 3, however you would still be much better off with a GeForce 2 GTS/PRO/TI (or even a GeForce 3) for newer games + a Voodoo 2 for compatibility with older Glide titles (unfortunately the V2 is quite expensive nowadays).

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-04, 09:22:

K7 pro is messed up though. Can't get usb to work no matter what. It installs normally, but when you insert a flash drive, it disconnects and connects in circles. Caps seem fine, but maybe it would be best to do a full recap.

Don't have any experience with the MSI K7 Pro, so not sure what to tell you.
Caps can look fine even if they are completely dead, see my post here. However, in your particular case, I'm not sure I would blame the caps if everything else works as it should.

V3 isn't the fastest out there, but I do like having one pc that I can use glide on. But you're probably right, I should get a gf3/4 and a V2. Will try to get someone to swap a V2 with my v3 2000 PCI that I have zero use for. Or maybe sell it on Ebay, I can see they are quite wanted.

As far as the MB goes, I have no idea, but it seems to be picky. Win Me loads into blue screen after installation is completed, 98se also doesn't work. Tried a few different memory sticks, no change, not sure what else to try. Internet doesn't help here because even new it was a rare platform.

Voodoo 3 works miracles with K6-2/III and Pentium II (and early Pentium III) but once you are in Coppermine territory it quickly becomes much less desirable.

That said, I have one paired with an Athlon XP 2200+ sitting next to me and I gotta say it really does scale well 🤣.

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-05, 10:19:

Will try to get someone to swap a V2 with my v3 2000 PCI that I have zero use for. Or maybe sell it on Ebay, I can see they are quite wanted.

I would advise you not to sell the Voodoo 3 PCI. I know you think that you have zero use for it now, but I can assure you that most members of this forum sold various components they thought they'd never need... and they ended up regretting it (myself included 😁 ).

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-05, 10:19:

As far as the MB goes, I have no idea, but it seems to be picky. Win Me loads into blue screen after installation is completed, 98se also doesn't work. Tried a few different memory sticks, no change, not sure what else to try. Internet doesn't help here because even new it was a rare platform.

That's unfortunate. I have various VIA KX133 and AMD 751 boards and they're all extremely stable, I was actually very surprised that they are almost as stable as an Intel 440BX platform. Though, some of the KX133 boards do have issues with Sound Blaster Live sound cards, and they can behave very erratically with this card...
EDIT: !!!WAIT!!! Is that an SB Live I see in your PC? 😁 Take it out and see if stability improves. If it does, then you can try and test the SB Live in different PCI slots to see if that helps with stability.
EDIT2: Never mind, apparently I was very tired yesterday and forgot that you have a motherboard with the AMD751 chipset. As far as I know, these do NOT have any problems with SB Live cards. 😀

appiah4 wrote on 2022-01-05, 10:53:

That said, I have one paired with an Athlon XP 2200+ sitting next to me and I gotta say it really does scale well 🤣.

Damn, and I thought people who pair Athlon XP with Voodoo 5 5500 cards are crazy! 🤣 Well, I guess it's a matter of how many PCs one has. If you're like me, I guess at some point you need to build these types of Frankenstein PCs just for entertainment purposes. 😁
EDIT: never mind, just saw your signature... you're definitely like me. 🤣 And you have a FIC PA-2013, for which I hate you with all my soul. 😜

I know, I get nervous only thinking about selling it 😁 it's a disease in a way 😁 I did try to remove all of my cards, but it doesn't help unfortunately. it installs the flash drive but then under device manager I get a "this device has a problem, but windows cannot determine what the problem is". I have a VIA usb card, but it takes 3 irqs so i'll probably order a nec one, hopefully that will only take one, or just be without USBs and use lan to transfer files.

More or less peroid correct gpus that i have: tnt 2 pro, kyro 2, radeon 7500, mx2 400, mx4 440, v3 3000, also getting the gf3 ti 200 and gf 4 ti 4200. Best to use would then be gf3 + a V2 when I get my hands on one:)?

Which ISA sound card would you recommend? I have the ct2800 vibra 16 with real opl, Yamaha YMF719E with opl sax and the ess 1868f.

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-06, 09:15:

More or less peroid correct gpus that i have: tnt 2 pro, kyro 2, radeon 7500, mx2 400, mx4 440, v3 3000, also getting the gf3 ti 200 and gf 4 ti 4200. Best to use would then be gf3 + a V2 when I get my hands on one:)?

Yes, a GeForce 3 with a Voodoo 2 would be a killer combo (the GeForce 3 is the last nVIDIA card to still be extremely fast in DOS, which can be an advantage when playing late DOS games like Duke Nukem at higher resolutions. Starting with the GeForce 4, DOS performance was degraded (although it's not really a big issue when using very fast CPUs and write combining).
By the way, it doesn't matter which GeForce 3 you get (even the Ti 200 is mostly overkill for your CPU) 😀.

sirotkaslo wrote on 2022-01-06, 09:15:

Which ISA sound card would you recommend? I have the ct2800 vibra 16 with real opl, Yamaha YMF719E with opl sax and the ess 1868f.

Out of the ones you mentioned, either the YMF719 or the ESS 1868F. They are both good cards (although the ESS is a bit more compatible in my experience), but it all boils down to the games you play. Some games work and sound best with the YMF719 (Jazz Jackrabbit sounds excellent with this card - if we're talking about a decently built card, that is), others work better with the ESS 1868 (Prehistorik, Duke Nukem 2). The ESS 1868 can be a hit & miss, depending on the specific card you have (some of them were built very, very poorly... so they are very noisy).

Found two 8MB cards by Creative for 120€ with sli bridge. Don't feel like paying that much, but prices have gone crazy in the last year. So I'll probably add them to my pc along with the medion gf3, they go for 10€.

Judging from the looks of the sound cards, i'd say the ESS is better built. Yamaha model is the a151-a00. Will give both a try.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!