VOGONS


First post, by haker120

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Is this AGP board capable to accept this processor with or without L2 cache mod? I got annoyed with my S7 mobo so I ordered that SS7 for AGP. 😁

Last edited by haker120 on 2022-08-06, 09:34. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 2 of 44, by Nemo1985

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It's not a bad motherboard but for sure with standard bios is not a top performance with vanilla bios but worry not, there is the soggi modified bios which improves the performance of memory (and l2 chip if I remember right).
With that bios it reaches the performance of Aopen AX59 PRO and other mvp3 motherboards.

Reply 5 of 44, by majestyk

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haker120 wrote on 2022-08-05, 10:12:

And I paid 350PLN what is around $76,01. 😁

The "fair" price depends on the L2 cache size. This board was availsble with 512KB, 1MB and 2MB L2 cache. The 2MB version is quite rare.
If you run a K6-2+ or III+ you don´t have to worry about that since the onboard L2 becomes L3 cache that´s not so critical for performance.

Reply 7 of 44, by majestyk

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At least one SRAM chip is not populated so this one has either 512K or 1M.

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There´s usually a small sticker at the LPT-connector indicationg L2 cache size.

Last edited by majestyk on 2022-08-05, 12:15. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 8 of 44, by TrashPanda

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majestyk wrote on 2022-08-05, 12:13:

At least one SRAM chip is not populated so this one has either 512K or 1M.

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IIRC both of mine have only one and its 1Mb but you can upgrade it to 2Mb if you have the soldering skills.

Reply 9 of 44, by majestyk

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I´ve seen several 512K versions on Ebay recently. In this case it´s more soldering work and the 128Kx64 chips are 128-pin and have a very fine pitch.

This would only make sense if you need a cacheable area of 512MB RAM AND plan not to use a K6-2+ or K6-III or K6-III+ CPU.

Last edited by majestyk on 2022-08-05, 12:23. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 13 of 44, by TrashPanda

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majestyk wrote on 2022-08-05, 12:18:

I´ve seen several 512K versions on Ebay recently. In this case it´s more soldering work and the 128Kx64 chips are 128-pin and have a very fine pitch.

This would only make sense if you need a cacheable area of 512MB RAM AND plan not to use a K6-2+ or K6-III or K6-III+ CPU.

Yeah, I was thinking of upping to 2Mb on one of the boards but like you said the pins on the ICs are ...beyond my ability to remain focused on . .even with a scope, also the shakes make it doubly difficult to solder tiny stuff.

But 1Mb of cache is more than ill ever use for these boards which rarely need more than 128mb of ram.

My boards are Rev B2 and AT format, same board just different layout.

There is an AT version of this board with 1Mb up on Evilbay right now, Id buy it but no shipping outside continental US.

Reply 14 of 44, by majestyk

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haker120 wrote on 2022-08-05, 12:29:

Still patched BIOS applies?

Patched or latest official BIOS

http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/k6plus.htm

As for performance just make sure that you are using a K6-2+, K6-III+ or K6-III CPU, then you can neglect the small L2 cache. Otherwise don´t exceed 128MB RAM and everything will be perferct.

512K L2 -> 128MB RAM cacheable
1MB L2 -> 256MB RAM cacheable
2MB L2 -> 512MB RAM cacheable

Reply 16 of 44, by majestyk

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IF you´re running a 6-2+, 6-III+ or 6-III CPU you´ll be happy, because both the CPU´s L1 and L2 caches will cover all of the 512MB RAM. The 512K L3 cache has very little effect on memory performance, just a few % so it can be neglected.

Reply 19 of 44, by Repo Man11

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Vogons has a thread dedicated to benchmark racing Super 7 systems with 3D Mark 2000, so if you want to know exactly what difference CPU and motherboard cache makes on performance it is well documented there. All evidence indicates that the best MVP3 motherboards with two megabytes of on onboard memory cache and an overclocked K6-3+ will be among the top scoring systems, but the slightly superior Ali Aladdin chipset Super 7 motherboards are the record holders. If you aren't interested in benchmark racing, the performance difference is likely irrelevant to you.

AMD K6 3DMARK, aiming for stars.

"I'd rather be rich than stupid" - Jack Handey