Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-01-08, 02:36:

Almost forgot to post this. I got a pristine looking Intel SE440BX-2 with the integrated Yamaha XG YMF740C audio for a great price. It appears to have a proper voltage regulator for coppermine support too, which is honestly the main reason I grabbed it. I realized recently that 440BX boards with coppermine support aren't nearly as common as I had imagined, because I needed one on short notice and found not a single one in my collection that didn't need repairs of some kind. My other BX boards lacked support for coppermine voltages.

I have a couple of these. The Intel BIOS is easily the weakest link. If I recall correctly, there aren't as many options as AWARD BIOSes to reserve ISA resources. It also has a lot of problems allocating PCI resources and can get "confused" about cards that are already installed in the slots, requiring them them all to be removed and reinserted. It's particularly unstable when a USB 2.0 card is used with Windows 9x.

If you're careful with your PCI resources, don't swap your cards around after it's stable (like on a test bench), and avoid USB 2.0, then it's a pretty good board.

Kahenraz wrote on 2025-01-08, 08:10:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-01-08, 02:36:

Almost forgot to post this. I got a pristine looking Intel SE440BX-2 with the integrated Yamaha XG YMF740C audio for a great price. It appears to have a proper voltage regulator for coppermine support too, which is honestly the main reason I grabbed it. I realized recently that 440BX boards with coppermine support aren't nearly as common as I had imagined, because I needed one on short notice and found not a single one in my collection that didn't need repairs of some kind. My other BX boards lacked support for coppermine voltages.

I have a couple of these. The Intel BIOS is easily the weakest link. If I recall correctly, there aren't as many options as AWARD BIOSes to reserve ISA resources. It also has a lot of problems allocating PCI resources and can get "confused" about cards that are already installed in the slots, requiring them them all to be removed and reinserted. It's particularly unstable when a USB 2.0 card is used with Windows 9x.

If you're careful with your PCI resources, don't swap your cards around after it's stable (like on a test bench), and avoid USB 2.0, then it's a pretty good board.

Weird... I wonder how they messed up their own BIOS so badly? Though, now that I think about it, I don't recall seeing an Intel-made BIOS in a while. Almost everything I have ever seen was Award, Phoenix or AMI until UEFI came along, even among OEMs.

Maybe Intel were just really bad at it... 🤣

Bought this not common Jetway J-437 486 MB and Intel Pentium Overdrive 486 CPU.
Motherboard was purchased on a local market and CPU was ordered on eBay earlier.
Was able to post MB with the known good DX4 CPU, unfortunately the onboard cache didn't work well. Closer inspection gave a results, some of the pins in cache sockets are badly damaged and has a bad contact to the chip legs, so this would be not hard to fix. Was unable to run POD CPU, motherboard didn't run with it at all, it looks that this CPU has a short circuit and PSU protection turned off board immediately. At the same time I can hear a high pitch noise coming from the CPU. So sad that CPU was purchased couple of month ago and I gave a positive feedback. Will try to de-solder all capacitors and voltage regulator and check them separately.

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-01-07, 02:07:

I bought a "mystery machine" again.

Always great! The first thing I noticed, only ONE capacitor to support CPU voltage!? But double the MOSFETs! My Gigabyte GA-7IXE and Asus K7M have at least 8 or 9. I'm curious about Vcc ripple under load. 😁

Pino wrote on 2025-01-07, 23:09:

Always cool when you buy something you didn't know it exists.

Just got a Socket 7 Pentium 133MMX, apparently it was released as a mobile CPU only, which probably explains the lower Vcore.

Living happy here with the other members of the family.

Yes, this is a mobile Pentium MMX. There are also versions with 150, 166 and 200 MHz.
The last one only seems to be common in the US though, as most if not all offerings I've seen were from there.
Fun fact: my 133MHz part is also running happily @ 2.5x100MHz and 2.45V. I only discovered that by accident.
On the other side, a 150MHz one only barely runs close above the 200MHz mark.

I picked this up for my AMD 2x AGP build. I saw that it had an AU8830 chip and was cheap.
At first I thought maybe it's a SQ2500, but it kinda looks a little different than most of the SQ2500's I've seen.
Maybe it's a SQ1500?? But it's got a 8830? Maybe it's something totally different.. not entirely sure.. says SuperQuad and vortex 2 on it though...

All Aureal Vortex look good to me, I haven't ever had one 🤣

Though I do got a load of ISA boards that need sound at some point. Currently on radar is a CT2910 SB16 card, at a value of 20 USD, and I am wondering whether to work it into a deal with other stuff or not. How bad is the DMA bug on it for SB pro 2.0 compatibility use?

Edit: or I guess is hanging note more significant? Can you avoid that in pure adlib or does it affect every variety of OPL music? I guess I could pitch this card to a later build with a goldfinch.

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2025-01-08, 16:24:

I picked this up for my AMD 2x AGP build. I saw that it had an AU8830 chip and was cheap. At first I thought maybe it's a SQ250 […]
Show full quote

I picked this up for my AMD 2x AGP build. I saw that it had an AU8830 chip and was cheap.
At first I thought maybe it's a SQ2500, but it kinda looks a little different than most of the SQ2500's I've seen.
Maybe it's a SQ1500?? But it's got a 8830? Maybe it's something totally different.. not entirely sure.. says SuperQuad and vortex 2 on it though...

The attachment PXL_20250108_064638409~2.jpg is no longer available

The attachment PXL_20250108_064659144.jpg is no longer available

I'm certain it's a SQ2500. I have the same card, but black PCB. Congrats on the catch!

Can also say that's a SQ2500. Mine looks exactly the same.

PD2JK wrote on 2025-01-08, 17:17:

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2025-01-08, 16:24:

I picked this up for my AMD 2x AGP build. I saw that it had an AU8830 chip and was cheap. At first I thought maybe it's a SQ250 […]
Show full quote

I picked this up for my AMD 2x AGP build. I saw that it had an AU8830 chip and was cheap.
At first I thought maybe it's a SQ2500, but it kinda looks a little different than most of the SQ2500's I've seen.
Maybe it's a SQ1500?? But it's got a 8830? Maybe it's something totally different.. not entirely sure.. says SuperQuad and vortex 2 on it though...

The attachment PXL_20250108_064638409~2.jpg is no longer available

The attachment PXL_20250108_064659144.jpg is no longer available

I'm certain it's a SQ2500. I have the same card, but black PCB. Congrats on the catch!

PcBytes wrote on 2025-01-08, 17:27:

Can also say that's a SQ2500. Mine looks exactly the same.

Nice, Great, Super excited to have one!

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2025-01-08, 16:24:

I picked this up for my AMD 2x AGP build. I saw that it had an AU8830 chip and was cheap. At first I thought maybe it's a SQ250 […]
Show full quote

I picked this up for my AMD 2x AGP build. I saw that it had an AU8830 chip and was cheap.
At first I thought maybe it's a SQ2500, but it kinda looks a little different than most of the SQ2500's I've seen.
Maybe it's a SQ1500?? But it's got a 8830? Maybe it's something totally different.. not entirely sure.. says SuperQuad and vortex 2 on it though...

The attachment PXL_20250108_064638409~2.jpg is no longer available

The attachment PXL_20250108_064659144.jpg is no longer available

It’s a VideoLogic SonicVortex 2 (http://www.mpcc.org.uk/hardreview1.htm). The SQ2500’s have the AU8830 B0 chip revision. It’s still a nice card. I have one in one of my machines.

I just picked up another Sony Vaio - this time a PCG-807K / PCG-9326.... virtually the same machine as the one which is making it's way through the postal service to me now, but with a P3-650 instead of 850, and a 14" 1024x768 screen instead of 15" 1400x1050. Same ATI Mobility M1, same Yamaha YMF-744, same built in DVD and FDD.

This one is tested and powers on... so at the very least I can reuse some of the internals if the higher spec machine arrives D.O.A due to battery damage.

megatron-uk wrote on 2025-01-08, 19:54:

I just picked up another Sony Vaio - this time a PCG-807K / PCG-9326.... virtually the same machine as the one which is making it's way through the postal service to me now, but with a P3-650 instead of 850, and a 14" 1024x768 screen instead of 15" 1400x1050. Same ATI Mobility M1, same Yamaha YMF-744, same built in DVD and FDD.

This one is tested and powers on... so at the very least I can reuse some of the internals if the higher spec machine arrives D.O.A due to battery damage.

They're the same mainboard pretty much, far as I can see there's just an extra lvds chip on the F809K for the higher resolution.

The mainboard on these isn't too badly damaged by that NiMH RTC battery though they are leaking now - they're connected to the end of a sub-board that I think does power / battery control.
Hopefully both of them have the hard drive caddy and flex connector since they're not easy to get hold of, but they don't break since Sony designed the flex cable pretty well with no sharp folding points. But the caddies are often missing since they were removed for data protection. On one of mine they even bent the keyboard all the way up to get to the hard drive and sold it with the keyboard bent in half, amazingly the keyboard still works after being bent back into shape.

Check out the service manual for the F800 series, it's pretty comprehensive. Getting to the RTC battery board isn't too bad, just need to remove the palm rest by removing the screws on the bottom and top, then slide the palmrest towards you to release it. I've been replacing those with a CR2032 connected up with 2x diodes on the output to stop it charging.
Hope you can get both working 😀

AGP4LIfe? wrote on 2025-01-08, 16:24:

I picked this up for my AMD 2x AGP build. I saw that it had an AU8830 chip and was cheap. At first I thought maybe it's a SQ250 […]
Show full quote

I picked this up for my AMD 2x AGP build. I saw that it had an AU8830 chip and was cheap.
At first I thought maybe it's a SQ2500, but it kinda looks a little different than most of the SQ2500's I've seen.
Maybe it's a SQ1500?? But it's got a 8830? Maybe it's something totally different.. not entirely sure.. says SuperQuad and vortex 2 on it though...

The attachment PXL_20250108_064638409~2.jpg is no longer available

The attachment PXL_20250108_064659144.jpg is no longer available

Our resident Aureal expert had this to say about these cards:

Re: Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500

The card you got is called the SuperQuad, it's the OEM varient of the SQ2500 and typically is found using the older AU8830 A2 rev of the chip.
All Aureal SQ2500's used the AU8830 B0 chip revision. Aside from some hardware layout changes and part selection they both operate near identically.

The B0 revision chips are technically "better" and have some internal improvements (I think they are slightly faster or use less CPU), but I have seen blue Vortex2 "retail" cards (normally the ones recognized as SQ2500) that also have the A2 revision chips, so yeah, this is basically the same as an SQ2500 except for the chip revision.

Thermalwrong wrote on 2025-01-08, 20:30:

They're the same mainboard pretty much, far as I can see there's just an extra lvds chip on the F809K for the higher resolution. […]
Show full quote

megatron-uk wrote on 2025-01-08, 19:54:

I just picked up another Sony Vaio - this time a PCG-807K / PCG-9326.... virtually the same machine as the one which is making it's way through the postal service to me now, but with a P3-650 instead of 850, and a 14" 1024x768 screen instead of 15" 1400x1050. Same ATI Mobility M1, same Yamaha YMF-744, same built in DVD and FDD.

This one is tested and powers on... so at the very least I can reuse some of the internals if the higher spec machine arrives D.O.A due to battery damage.

They're the same mainboard pretty much, far as I can see there's just an extra lvds chip on the F809K for the higher resolution.

The mainboard on these isn't too badly damaged by that NiMH RTC battery though they are leaking now - they're connected to the end of a sub-board that I think does power / battery control.
Hopefully both of them have the hard drive caddy and flex connector since they're not easy to get hold of, but they don't break since Sony designed the flex cable pretty well with no sharp folding points. But the caddies are often missing since they were removed for data protection. On one of mine they even bent the keyboard all the way up to get to the hard drive and sold it with the keyboard bent in half, amazingly the keyboard still works after being bent back into shape.

Check out the service manual for the F800 series, it's pretty comprehensive. Getting to the RTC battery board isn't too bad, just need to remove the palm rest by removing the screws on the bottom and top, then slide the palmrest towards you to release it. I've been replacing those with a CR2032 connected up with 2x diodes on the output to stop it charging.
Hope you can get both working 😀

Thanks for the info. I did see a strip down video of one of them and it looks okay.

Both laptops were sold with a full set of HDD caddy, internal fdd and dvd... though what state of working they are I don't know.

Both have batteries (again, unknown). But no chargers, so I've picked one up.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-01-08, 21:40:

The B0 revision chips are technically "better" and have some internal improvements (I think they are slightly faster or use less CPU), but I have seen blue Vortex2 "retail" cards (normally the ones recognized as SQ2500) that also have the A2 revision chips, so yeah, this is basically the same as an SQ2500 except for the chip revision.

Have a look at this website. Looks like it’s a retail card with that fancy box http://www.mpcc.org.uk/hardreview1.htm

zuldan wrote on 2025-01-08, 22:12:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-01-08, 21:40:

The B0 revision chips are technically "better" and have some internal improvements (I think they are slightly faster or use less CPU), but I have seen blue Vortex2 "retail" cards (normally the ones recognized as SQ2500) that also have the A2 revision chips, so yeah, this is basically the same as an SQ2500 except for the chip revision.

Have a look at this website. Looks like it’s a retail card with that fancy box http://www.mpcc.org.uk/hardreview1.htm

That is a VideoLogic Sonic Vortex, which is again the same PCB design with the AU8830A2, but it isn't a retail Aureal branded Vortex 2 SQ2500.

As far as I know, the actual Aureal SQ2500 retail cards that came in Aureal boxes all use a blue PCB with those funky tapered pastel colored outputs and a coaxial SPDIF jack, as shown in this old review:
http://www.dansdata.com/sq2500.htm

I don't believe any of the cards with a TOSLINK optical connector in that location were ever sold in those boxes, and most likely were either OEM only or were sold by other brands.

Also, this post comparing the two designs reminded me that the actual Aureal SQ2500 retail card also had the additional header for the nearly-unobtainium DSP daughterboard which provided Dolby decoding and some other things. When the card was sold with the daughterboard it was sold as the SQ3500, but it was otherwise identical to the retail Aureal SQ2500. I don't think most of the other Vortex2 variants (even others labeled SQ2500 or SuperQuad) have this header.

As kind of a semi-relevant note, there were apparently some sound card retail brands that sold the Aureal SQ2500 retail cards in different packaging, like this one I stumbled upon recently:
Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
Though this is the only case of this that I have ever seen personally.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-01-08, 23:44:

That is a VideoLogic Sonic Vortex, which is again the same PCB design with the AU8830A2, but it isn't a retail Aureal branded Vo […]
Show full quote

That is a VideoLogic Sonic Vortex, which is again the same PCB design with the AU8830A2, but it isn't a retail Aureal branded Vortex 2 SQ2500.

As far as I know, the actual Aureal SQ2500 retail cards that came in Aureal boxes all use a blue PCB with those funky tapered pastel colored outputs and a coaxial SPDIF jack, as shown in this old review:
http://www.dansdata.com/sq2500.htm

I don't believe any of the cards with a TOSLINK optical connector in that location were ever sold in those boxes, and most likely were either OEM only or were sold by other brands.

Also, this post comparing the two designs reminded me that the actual Aureal SQ2500 retail card also had the additional header for the nearly-unobtainium DSP daughterboard which provided Dolby decoding and some other things. When the card was sold with the daughterboard it was sold as the SQ3500, but it was otherwise identical to the retail Aureal SQ2500. I don't think most of the other Vortex2 variants (even others labeled SQ2500 or SuperQuad) have this header.

As kind of a semi-relevant note, there were apparently some sound card retail brands that sold the Aureal SQ2500 retail cards in different packaging, like this one I stumbled upon recently:
Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
Though this is the only case of this that I have ever seen personally.

Very interesting. The rear view of the green PCB actually says SQ2500. It's identical to my card. Re: Vortex2 OPL3 Project

I've always thought of my card as Videologic SonicVortex and not a SQ2500. Maybe I can call it a SQ2500 now.

I also have a Turtle Beach Montego II with the AU8830B0 revision. It's the only one I've ever seen with the newer revision.

zuldan wrote on 2025-01-07, 10:36:

Got a mystery pack today. Here is the contents. Not sure how rare the 3700 is. Need to do some research on the 7600.

Well turns out the mystery pack was worth it. This 3700+ (ADA3700AEP5AR) is for socket 754. It’s the fastest desktop processor for the 754. They seem to be pretty rare. Only 1 sold of eBay. What GPU would be a good match for this processor?

zuldan wrote on 2025-01-09, 00:01:

Very interesting. The rear view of the green PCB actually says SQ2500. It's identical to my card. Re: Vortex2 OPL3 Project […]
Show full quote

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-01-08, 23:44:

That is a VideoLogic Sonic Vortex, which is again the same PCB design with the AU8830A2, but it isn't a retail Aureal branded Vo […]
Show full quote

That is a VideoLogic Sonic Vortex, which is again the same PCB design with the AU8830A2, but it isn't a retail Aureal branded Vortex 2 SQ2500.

As far as I know, the actual Aureal SQ2500 retail cards that came in Aureal boxes all use a blue PCB with those funky tapered pastel colored outputs and a coaxial SPDIF jack, as shown in this old review:
http://www.dansdata.com/sq2500.htm

I don't believe any of the cards with a TOSLINK optical connector in that location were ever sold in those boxes, and most likely were either OEM only or were sold by other brands.

Also, this post comparing the two designs reminded me that the actual Aureal SQ2500 retail card also had the additional header for the nearly-unobtainium DSP daughterboard which provided Dolby decoding and some other things. When the card was sold with the daughterboard it was sold as the SQ3500, but it was otherwise identical to the retail Aureal SQ2500. I don't think most of the other Vortex2 variants (even others labeled SQ2500 or SuperQuad) have this header.

As kind of a semi-relevant note, there were apparently some sound card retail brands that sold the Aureal SQ2500 retail cards in different packaging, like this one I stumbled upon recently:
Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
Though this is the only case of this that I have ever seen personally.

Very interesting. The rear view of the green PCB actually says SQ2500. It's identical to my card. Re: Vortex2 OPL3 Project

I've always thought of my card as Videologic SonicVortex and not a SQ2500. Maybe I can call it a SQ2500 now.

I also have a Turtle Beach Montego II with the AU8830B0 revision. It's the only one I've ever seen with the newer revision.

Yes, it seems like the SQ2500 and SuperQuad names were was used pretty widely among the different AU8830A2 cards, with the blue+coax Aureal retail boxed card being the one that was actually different in that it had the Dolby daughterboard header to turn it into an SQ3500.

And yes, I remember very well your unicorn Montego II with the B0 stepping. Definitely the only one of those I've ever seen! 😀

EDIT: Also, I just had to sanity-check myself, and I do have a blue Aureal Vortex 2 with an AU8830A2 that is identical to the retail cards with coax and the Dolby DB header, which normally have B0 chips. The PCB has a printed Rev "A" on it, where the cards with the B0 chip all seem to be printed Rev "B". Interestingly, the label on the back of the A2 card says "Aureal Inc Vortex 2 SuperQuad 2500 Made in China" (SN 3699390000083), where the B0 cards say "Aureal Inc Vortex 2 SQ2500 Made in China" (SN 3899390010780). So, I'm thinking only the very earliest retail cards ended up with the A2 chips, and once the B0 was available all of the A2s went to the OEM and third party cards.