Anonymous Coward wrote on 2024-08-02, 02:21:

As mentioned the best thing to do with these boards is stick them into an ATX case with a custom backplate.

Concerning the cache, you're going to need 64kx8 32-pin SRAMs. The Triton chipset does not support 1024kb as far as I know.
You should also consult the manual as to which cache chips you're going to need. Some of these boards ask for 3.3V synchronous SRAMs, rather than the 5V asynchronous ones you normally find on 486 boards.

No manual with it. And I haven't seen one online. So that's more than likely a no go.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2024-07-31, 23:24:

It's possible you may be able to "exit SETUP without saving" and boot from a floppy, if you want to play around while you wait for the new clock chip to come.

Well, that got me past POST. But I cannot get a floppy drive to work. Always a 112 error. Then it says drive not ready.

Tried 2 different cables and floppy drives.

Plugging in 5V parts shouldn't cause any harm, but it your cache isn't working (properly) or the chips get really hot then you'll know why.

Instead of starting a new thread. I dropped an IBM 6x86M in and the darn thing actually booted. I assume it was running at 133MHz, the BIOS doesn't say on POST (still not got windows setup on it yet, still toying around/waiting on parts).

That got me thinking (after watching one of LGRs builds). It's got a Pentium 133, the sticker inside the case gives the jumper settings for up to 166. I assume I can drop a K6-166 in and it should work no problem?

It would appear the board is limited to 2.5x multiplier and it DOES NOT have the voltage regulator for MMX pentiums (Least that I can tell).

Anonymous Coward wrote on 2024-08-02, 02:21:

As mentioned the best thing to do with these boards is stick them into an ATX case with a custom backplate.

Concerning the cache, you're going to need 64kx8 32-pin SRAMs. The Triton chipset does not support 1024kb as far as I know.
You should also consult the manual as to which cache chips you're going to need. Some of these boards ask for 3.3V synchronous SRAMs, rather than the 5V asynchronous ones you normally find on 486 boards.

Something like this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285930010743?itmmeta … ABk9SR4Kpu9SiZA

Along with this

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235595644738?itmmeta … ABk9SR8DopdSiZA

I'm not totally sure about the tag RAM, but the Winbond 64kx8 chips you found are probably the right ones.

The K5 will probably work on your board if the BIOS doesn't barf it up. I've never used a K5 before, but they have weird multipliers and either ignore whatever you've set on your motherboard or translate them to something usable.

Private_Ops wrote on 2024-08-02, 20:48:

Something like this? […]
Show full quote

Something like this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285930010743

Along with this

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235595644738

Both offers linked have an access time of 15ns, which isn't that great. I have no idea what speed grade is required by your board. Maybe you can find Intel's recommendation in the 430FX data sheet.

The data chips seem to be the correct type. I know only about one pinout of the 64K chips.

The tag is 16K x 8 (128kBit). Those chips were "late to the party", as most SRAM dies had a power-of-4 size, like 64KBit or 256KBit. It turned out that 256K L2 cache on a 486 board got a very common configuration, and this configuration has 256K / 16 = 16K cache lines, so the tag ram needs 16K entries. Mainboards usually asked for a 32K x 8 chip as tag RAM, because there were no 16K x 8 chips on the market yet. Eventually memory manufacturers started producing 16K x 8 chips. The pinout was chosen in a way that they use all address lines that were also used by 8K x 8 chips (64KBit), but only one of the two extra address lines provided by 32K x 8 chips. Too bad that Winbond and Aster disagreed on which of the two extra address pins of a 256KBit chip is used and which one is ignored by a 128KBit chip. Some boards had a jumper labeled "Winbond/Aster". Pentium systems have cache lines of 32 bytes, so a 512K cache configuration on a Pentium system will also require tag information for 16K cache lines.

As the two pins that differ between "Aster" and "Winbind" are pins 1 and 26, you can check whether those pins are connected. If yes, both type of tag RAMs will work. 32K x 8 will most likely work too. If pins 1 and 26 are not connected, and you want to use a 16K x 8 tag, you have to figure out which of these two pins is actually connnected to one of the cache / Front side bus address lines.

At those chip prices adding cache makes zero sense. Either source two PBsrams or upgrade CPU, both options will cost less than half the moneys and provide much more speed.

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-08-03, 16:26:

At those chip prices adding cache makes zero sense. Either source two PBsrams or upgrade CPU, both options will cost less than half the moneys and provide much more speed.

I was going to suggest an MMX CPU for more internal cache rather than messing with DIP cache, but it's 3.3V-only

jakethompson1 wrote on 2024-08-03, 22:50:

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-08-03, 16:26:

At those chip prices adding cache makes zero sense. Either source two PBsrams or upgrade CPU, both options will cost less than half the moneys and provide much more speed.

I was going to suggest an MMX CPU for more internal cache rather than messing with DIP cache, but it's 3.3V-only

Well, I actually have a K6-166 coming. We'll see if it works.

I'm thinking just leave this machine mostly original. (Swap to a k6 from the P133, add 16mb more RAM, and a voodoo 1)

Just keep it around a cut off of early 97 ish (so, EARLY 3d, but no for later stuff, Half Life for example). My XP box can handle everything else.