A problem of the older S.7, is in the case of CPU update, the too much heat produced by the linear regulators, let's say that beyond a certain frequency, it is not possible to go, more or less this frequency is 266-300 MHz, but the use of a large heatsink (maybe with a fan), can make the PC usable, but if we want to go faster?

I think it depends on the CPU used, discarding the Intel CPUs, because there are no Pentium MMX over 300 MHz, and leaving out the various Cyrix, because they work with a maximum frequency less than 300 MHz, the only CPU that allows frequencies of 400-500 MHz, is the AMD K6, there are several versions, but the most common are the K6-2 CXT, which have the function that remaps 2X to 6X, a function also present in the versions following this, so versions + and III.

I would avoid using in the S.7 with linear regulators, those that absorb a lot of energy (W), let's see if the use of a low-power CPU can be a solution?

Maybe yes, if we find something from about 10W, but they usually require low VCORE, even less than 2.0V, instead of 2.2V, although motherboards with linear regulators may not go below 2.8V, or at most reach 2.5V.

So reducing the voltage, solves or not the problem of too much heat generated by the linear regulator? Probably not!

And without resorting to adapters with an on-board regulator, how can it be done?

The solution could be a modification, linear regulators usually use +5V, to lower to about +3V, so what could be done?

A solution could be to replace +5V with +3.3V, so the starting voltage would be +3.3V, which would then be reduced to about +2V, this I think lowers the heat produced by the linear regulator a lot, and could easily exceed 300 MHz, using normal K6-2 CXT CPUs, you can start by trying 300 (6X 50), 330 (6X 55), 360 (6X 60), and if at this frequency the temperatures are acceptable, you could try with 400 or even 450 MHz (6X 66 or 75).

I tried a little while ago, one of the motherboards that I kept waiting, was part of a batch of motherboards, and after a good cleaning, I replaced not long ago, an electrolytic capacitor, it had a high ESR (1.54 OHm 🕉), for the rest it is now in excellent condition, before it was very dirty, especially in some places.

Let's see in detail what it is; the format is uATX, the motherboard is an MSI MS-6368 VER:5, S.370 latest generation, VIA Apollo PLE133 chipset (VT8601T), there are two PC133/100 SDRAM banks, three PCI slots and one CNR, there would be a predisposition for an ISA slot, but I don't know if welding it, if it can work (?), finally there is integrated audio and video.

For the boot test I used a new CR2032 battery, a 64MB PC133 SDRAM, and finally an Intel Celeron 1200 1.5V.

Initially I did not understand if there was a problem with the BIOS (?), then a writing appeared, and I understood that you had to add a boot disk, I put the usual IDE CF 40PIN adapter with CF memory card with DOS, and even if a little slowly, it loaded the DOS and I ran the usual bench programs.

With those of Phil's, the scores are these:

2) 351.6 3) 254.4 4) 91.6

5) 157.8 6) 48.1

a) 414.94 b) 111.48 c) 128.5

d) 41.2 e) 12.5 n) 1369.82

That's all for the moment, later I'll try to do some overclocks from BIOS, in theory I could get from FSB 100 to 150, in reality it will be enough if I can get to 133, which correspond to 1600 MHz, unfortunately there are only fixed values so I'm forced to use only those.

I tried to make the Freetech P5F76 work, I replaced the BIOS chip with another identical one, I reprogrammed it with a version taken from TRW, and I put it on, unfortunately the final result, it's not what I thought, that is that the motherboard was working again, there's something wrong, maybe when the BIOS chip broke, it can be damaged otherwise, exactly I have no idea what ???

I made several attempts, to see if there was any error in the jumper setting, I tried various CPUs, various VCORE, the latter only slight overvolts, but nothing changes, I used single and dual voltage CPUs, various memories both 72 PIN and SDRAM, no sign of awakening, tried CMOS reset, and more.

The maximum it displays is C0 — or d0 —, once it displayed two strange EX XX codes, I don't remember exactly, but anyway I didn't have any BIOS screen, I tried both VGA PCI and ISA, in short I probably did almost everything, I was pretty sure I could recover it, but for now I don't think I'll make any progress in the near future.

Ultimately the behavior is very similar, to that of the Chaintech 5TDM2, and so there are two things, either the BIOS chip despite being readable (and writable) does not work, or something does not work on the motherboard, and this prevents the post codes from flowing.

I had a 775 motherboard between my paws, and I decided to try it, the only repair I did, was the replacement of an electrolytic capacitor, it was not in bad condition, but I preferred to replace it, as a prevention, if it worked or not I wouldn't know

The motherboard is an ASUS P5KPL-VM, uATX for LGA 775 CPU, Intel chipset, two DDR2 RAM slots (usually four), integrated audio video and LAN, there is a 16X PCI-E slot (for a video card), plus a 1X PCI-E slot, plus two PCI slots.

He had already installed a CPU, a Pentium Dual Core E2160 1.8 GHz, of these CPUs I had for a while an E2180 on the Linux E4700 PC, all in all a cheap CPU, but with interesting performance, even if for more demanding tasks, it can be a little slow.

I added the heatsink and a 1GB DDR2 800 RAM from Transcend, and I tried to boot, initially it didn't seem to start, but the post codes continued, up to the BIOS screen, I then added the usual IDE 40PIN CF adapter, and I ran Phil's Bench, the results are not correct, because the DOS sees the CPU as a single core.

Despite that, here's what he did:

2) 193.8 3) 212.5

5) 215.6 6) 82.4

A) 399.41 b) 72.44 c) 191.7

D) 71.9 e) 22.1 n) 2681.85

Bench 4) gave an error, and it was not possible to get a score.

I restarted some motherboards, to see if I could make progress, I managed to understand something, but I couldn't get any problematic or defective motherboard to start.

For this reason, I put away two three, later I will see to understand where there may be a problem, or I will try to understand exactly what some post codes mean, visible at startup, for example C0 —, it means that something does, but it crashes immediately, at the moment I don't know why, but this code is one of many that I don't understand, either because I don't know the BIOS of the motherboard what it is, for example in the Compaq Camaro, can it be AWARD or Compaq?

Moving on to the tried motherboards, that is, successfully worked, I still have ️ the ASUS P5KPL-VM REV on the counter. 2.01G with E2160, I was able to view the screen, where the line with the AMI BIOS info is visible at the bottom, it was not important but from that I understood that the BIOS is the factory one, basically the first version, if I wanted I could update it, but honestly I don't see the reason, at least for now, if later I make updates, or solves any problems, I could update to the latest version available.

An update that I have already done, is related to the RAM, I added a second 1 GB DDR2 800 bench, for a total of 2 GB, but most important thing, is having activated the dual channel, later I could change the amount of RAM and the CPU, for the moment, I have not decided what to do with this PC, the compact size (but not too much), they are definitely useful, having another 775, it is difficult to choose what to make it do, I will definitely not have Internet, the PC I currently have (i3) is perfect, maybe it will simply be a spare PC, Also because I have other similar ones (775) to try, and so I could end up with other 775 working.

Looking at the photos, I noticed that the dual channel, works at 667 instead of 800, as a second RAM, I put a DDR2 800 from Kingmax, so of a different brand, at this point I will try other RAM, this time identical (pair), to see if it goes to 800, or not?

I solved the dual channel problem, on the ASUS P5KPL-VM, I replaced the DDR2 RAM with other 1 GB, but these are identical, and as I thought, now it goes to 800 MHz, maybe before one of the two, it is different in some values, and they went to only 667, even though both are 800.

Continuing, I tried to start other motherboards, one despite the replacement of several electrolytic capacitors, it didn't work, it starts FF display - and turns off immediately, maybe the ATX power supply is cut protection, but checking the lines (connector pin), I don't find anything strange or suspicious, I'll have to do some checks, but for now I don't have the necessary time.

The last card I tried is an ABIT SE6, an ATX with i815E chipset, integrated audio and video, if you want you can alternatively put special cards, for video there is the AGP slot, for audio and more there are six PCI slots, finally if necessary there is also a CNR slot.

For the boot test, I use a 64 MB PC133 RAM, a Celeron 900 Coppermine CPU, and after connecting everything else, I try to boot, after a couple of attempts, I can see the BIOS screen on the screen, OK it works!

The next step will be to increase the RAM, change the CPU, I think with a Pentium 3 1000/133, in this regard in the BIOS there is no CPU 900/100 or 1000/100, and not even others beyond 1000, maybe it depends on the BIOS, which should be updated, but the problem is only inside the BIOS, for the rest it starts and works with the C900, maybe before changing it, I do the bench of Phil's, which I could compare with those of the other VIA chipset cards.

The ABIT SE6 with i815E chipset, with integrated audio and video, is from what I remember the only one to have integrated video, the other i815 I have do not have integrated VGA, but only the AGP slot, at least if I remember correctly.

The other i815, are an ABIT SA6 with P3S1400 (modified), an ASUS TUSL2-C with a P3S1400, an ACorp 815EP with P3-1000-133, then also a Siemens D1217 with P3-933-133, I don't think I have any others, more than anything else they seem quite robust cards, the only problem is in the poor electrolytic capacitors, for the rest I can only say that the ACorp was for a couple of years my best PC (around 2005), initially it had a P3-800-133, later I found a very cheap 1000, and I changed it.

Going back to the SE6, still ️ there are upgrades to do, the first one I've already done is the CPU change, I put away the Celeron 900, and I put the P3-1000-133 that I had on the VIA cards for Tualatin, let's say at the moment, you can't put something faster, except that you use a Tualatin Coppermine adapter.

Initially the memory with the P3-1000, went to only 100 MHz, but I solved it by going to the BIOS, and with the new settings, the RAM goes to 133 MHz, although I think the CL went up from 2 to 3.

Made Phil's benches with both CPUs, I can compare the scores.

2) 196.6 | 216.8 3) 164.4 | 182.5

4) 51.4 | 66.6 5) 113.0 | 137.5

6) 45.2 | 58.8

A) 339.50 | 419.61 b) 82.08 | 97.51

C) 95.8 | 115.3 d) 38.7 | 46.8

N) 1023.78 | 1137.56

The lowest scores are those of the Celeron 900-100, while the highest are of the P3-1000-133.

Lately I have temporarily suspended work with the S.7, in particular the experimentation of the VCORE on the Soyo 5BT5, also due to the failed attempts, to repair the motherboards by reprogramming the BIOS chip.

I had imagined that some motherboards could have such a damaged or wrong BIOS, as not to show any post code, the reality said instead the opposite, that is that the BIOS seems to be OK, and the lack of codes is to be attributed to a hw failure, there are also some motherboards, which show a hint of startup, but even there there could be the hw failure.

In particular, what did I want to do on the working S.7? First of all, I wanted to extend the supported CPUs, some cards from the i430 period (VX HX TX), do not have voltages lower than 2.8 VCORE, others reach 2.5V, some even 2.2V, very few reach 2.0V, this last value allows the use of all S.7 CPUs, but there are CPUs with VCORE up to 1.5V, so we have to overturn, if we want to use them.

The experiment was used to find the resistance value, for all voltages below 2.2V, up to 1.3V, further down I don't know if it's possible to go down, however I had thought of creating an additional card for the selection of the desired VCORE, for example if we wanted 1.8V, we will have a jumper in correspondence with a resistance xxx KOHm, all quite simple, just move the jumper to the desired value.

But is it necessary to underturn?

Well, in a fresh publication video, there is this topic, in addition to the overclocking of two different CPUs, both S.7, usually to stabilize the CPUs, you have to overvolt, and to reach high frequencies, you are obliged to resort to overvolt.

It is located here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TRutFutfvfs

I hope that the results obtained, can be replicated, on your own PCs, on the 5BT5, I had undervolted a P233MMX up to 2.2V, later I found all the resistances for voltages from 2.3V up to 2.7V, the next job will be to find those from 2.1V down.

Today as soon as I have a few free minutes, I would like to restart a PC that I have on the desk, I haven't started it for a long time, what is it about?

Of an Olidata brand motherboard, OLI-BX model, would practically be the ASUS P2B, with custom brand and model also in the BIOS, but only in the factory ones, in recent versions and those modified for Tualatin, instead there is no that I know, a customized BIOS from Olidata, until about 10 years ago, there was online the Olidata site with the section to download drivers and BIOS, I remember downloading the BIOS of two PCs, which I have successfully updated, I do not know if it is possible to access those pages today, if you do, I don't think you can download something.

Let's go back to the Olidata OLI-BX, not to be confused with the OLI-BX3 which is the equivalent of the ASUS P3B-F, fortunately I also have the one with a P3-600, in fact I should see to put it back into operation just to make a comparison; in the OLI-BX there is a P3-500, in this motherboard I used various adapters for memory cards, both CF and SD, so I have three OS available, DOS Windows 98SE and XP, in a recent video I saw on YouTube, there is the possibility of doing without all this!

Yes, because he used a micro OS, which he wrote on a BIOS chip, and installed it in a LAN card, in my opinion it is very interesting, because in the MB tests, sometimes you can find difficulties, which you can solve by changing adapt or controller card, I'm talking about PCs with ISA slots, and maybe before the 486, the video is this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uBpgABajHdw

So, I have the ABIT SE6 with the P3-1000 on the bench, currently it has only 64 MB of RAM, which is only good if you want to install a Windows 98SE or ME, it is true that XP also runs with only 64MB, and maybe even with only 32MB, but in this case, it would be quite annoying, because it would slow down the start-up too much, making a continuous recourse to the hard disk, however to make a long story short, I thought of adding a RAM, and leaving the one already present (at least for the moment), later, depending on how much RAM I put, I could remove one or even both.

I'm thinking of adding a 128 MB or 256 MB module, in the past on the i815 PCs, I put a 256 MB module plus two 128 MB, and it's quite convenient if you don't have two 256 MB modules, here there is this possibility, since the motherboard has three RAM banks.

Among the RAM that I selected recently, I have a 256 MB module, I insert it into the MB and get 320 MB total, not bad, the problem with Windows XP is solved, and you can still do better, getting to 512 MB with more RAM, the module that I added, does not show that PC1XX is, starting the PC the RAM works at 133 MHz, from the QTPRO diagnostic program instead, it turns out to be a PC100, so I think to replace it with another 256 MB module, and see if it would actually be a PC133, if I had several 128 MB RAM modules, maybe Same, I could get to 384 MB with three identical modules.

In the next few days, I should do other upgrades, for the moment I will not use AGP video cards, but I will use the integrated one, I want to do some bench in Windows, to understand how it goes, the comparison I could do later, if I get disappointing results, currently the VGA on board has only 1 MB, I don't know if it is possible to increase it to 2 or 4 MB, maybe from the BIOS, going to 4 MB maybe does not increase performance, but it should allow higher resolutions.

PC@LIVE wrote on 2025-03-31, 21:37:

So, I have the ABIT SE6 with the P3-1000 on the bench, currently it has only 64 MB of RAM, which is only good if you want to ins […]
Show full quote

So, I have the ABIT SE6 with the P3-1000 on the bench, currently it has only 64 MB of RAM, which is only good if you want to install a Windows 98SE or ME, it is true that XP also runs with only 64MB, and maybe even with only 32MB, but in this case, it would be quite annoying, because it would slow down the start-up too much, making a continuous recourse to the hard disk, however to make a long story short, I thought of adding a RAM, and leaving the one already present (at least for the moment), later, depending on how much RAM I put, I could remove one or even both.

I'm thinking of adding a 128 MB or 256 MB module, in the past on the i815 PCs, I put a 256 MB module plus two 128 MB, and it's quite convenient if you don't have two 256 MB modules, here there is this possibility, since the motherboard has three RAM banks.

Among the RAM that I selected recently, I have a 256 MB module, I insert it into the MB and get 320 MB total, not bad, the problem with Windows XP is solved, and you can still do better, getting to 512 MB with more RAM, the module that I added, does not show that PC1XX is, starting the PC the RAM works at 133 MHz, from the QTPRO diagnostic program instead, it turns out to be a PC100, so I think to replace it with another 256 MB module, and see if it would actually be a PC133, if I had several 128 MB RAM modules, maybe Same, I could get to 384 MB with three identical modules.

In the next few days, I should do other upgrades, for the moment I will not use AGP video cards, but I will use the integrated one, I want to do some bench in Windows, to understand how it goes, the comparison I could do later, if I get disappointing results, currently the VGA on board has only 1 MB, I don't know if it is possible to increase it to 2 or 4 MB, maybe from the BIOS, going to 4 MB maybe does not increase performance, but it should allow higher resolutions.

Maybe try and get hold of an AIMM module... Re: Kingston KVR-GPA/4 4mb GPA for AGP video

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-04-01, 03:20:

PC@LIVE wrote on 2025-03-31, 21:37:

So, I have the ABIT SE6 with the P3-1000 on the bench, currently it has only 64 MB of RAM, which is only good if you want to ins […]
Show full quote

So, I have the ABIT SE6 with the P3-1000 on the bench, currently it has only 64 MB of RAM, which is only good if you want to install a Windows 98SE or ME, it is true that XP also runs with only 64MB, and maybe even with only 32MB, but in this case, it would be quite annoying, because it would slow down the start-up too much, making a continuous recourse to the hard disk, however to make a long story short, I thought of adding a RAM, and leaving the one already present (at least for the moment), later, depending on how much RAM I put, I could remove one or even both.

I'm thinking of adding a 128 MB or 256 MB module, in the past on the i815 PCs, I put a 256 MB module plus two 128 MB, and it's quite convenient if you don't have two 256 MB modules, here there is this possibility, since the motherboard has three RAM banks.

Among the RAM that I selected recently, I have a 256 MB module, I insert it into the MB and get 320 MB total, not bad, the problem with Windows XP is solved, and you can still do better, getting to 512 MB with more RAM, the module that I added, does not show that PC1XX is, starting the PC the RAM works at 133 MHz, from the QTPRO diagnostic program instead, it turns out to be a PC100, so I think to replace it with another 256 MB module, and see if it would actually be a PC133, if I had several 128 MB RAM modules, maybe Same, I could get to 384 MB with three identical modules.

In the next few days, I should do other upgrades, for the moment I will not use AGP video cards, but I will use the integrated one, I want to do some bench in Windows, to understand how it goes, the comparison I could do later, if I get disappointing results, currently the VGA on board has only 1 MB, I don't know if it is possible to increase it to 2 or 4 MB, maybe from the BIOS, going to 4 MB maybe does not increase performance, but it should allow higher resolutions.

Maybe try and get hold of an AIMM module... Re: Kingston KVR-GPA/4 4mb GPA for AGP video

Thank you so much friend, I didn't know such a thing existed. I'll see if there are any for sale, and especially how much they would cost, in any case, if I can't find anything like that, I would always have the alternative of being able to use an AGP VGA.

On the Abit SE6 it was what I thought, but I understood, that the frequencies visible at the top of page 23 of the pdf, were the only possible, instead as you can rightly notice, you have to change in User Define, to select FSB from 50 to 250 MHz, clearly with a P3-1000, it is not possible to go up much beyond 1000, the Tualatin Celeron 1000, can reach 1500 with FSB 150, beyond and towards 166 MHz instead instability begin to be noticed, which could be solved, through some mods, which personally I am not able to do, even if some motherboards They have maintained the selection of the FSB through jumper, and this can solve problems that occur, when instead of automatic selection you switch to manual selection.

Unfortunately ABIT, like many other brands, has disappeared for several years, and this for some fans of the brand, and I among them of course, forces us to find cards that we can recover, lately I had worked on an S.462 (KG7 Lite), unfortunately I suspended the work, maybe later I could pick up where I left off.

For the moment I have to be done, some upgrades, the first one I did but I have to change the 256 MB RAM, currently they are at 320 MB total, but I could also get to 512 MB if necessary, then I would have to load a Windows on a memory card with adapter, and then do some bench, including those of CPU-Z and other similar.

Currently I have to solve a problem, with the images, because I have run out of free space in my phone, later I will come back to put them, for the moment I could, but I would totally saturate the remaining space.

Unfortunately I haven't had the necessary time to work on some motherboards, at least in the last few days, but now that I have a few minutes, I would like to try to figure out how to solve the absence of post codes, of some motherboards.

I recently tried 775, including an ASUS P5KPL SE REV. 2.01G, unfortunately despite the replacement of some capacitors, visibly swollen, in the various attempts to start, no post code has been displayed!

Just recently, I removed the BIOS chip, and I extracted the content by saving it in a file, being possible to save it, the next step should be, try to examine the file, if it turns out to be working then, you can rule out that the problem is due to a damaged BIOS, it could be wrong, but I think some code would be displayed.

So I would say that there is something wrong, we will have to rule out that it is the CPU, using one coming from a working PC, but if we do not see any post code, is it possible that some pins do not make contact, or have a layer of oxide, which prevents conduction?

Of course, however, there are still ️, several checks to do, for example with a special tool, we will have to check the frequencies of the quartz, if they are generated, if they are present in the PCI slots, here is this thing I don't know if it is visible in the post card, theoretically yes, because there is a CLK LED, so if it is on, it should indicate that in the PCI slot there are 33 MHz, but I don't think that LED indicates the exact frequency, I think that if there are 33 or 50 or 20 MHz it turns on, and it is off only when the frequency is absent at all.

But it could very well be, a tiny SMD, to create the problem, either because it's broken, or because it's blown away, in the latter case, only a close look can find it.

Here these are just a part of the things that should be checked, and of course the various voltages must be checked, sometimes it can happen that there is some other defective capacitor, and it is not swollen, in fact visually it is perfect, I have seen in some videos, that by heating with hot air, the motherboard can start starting, but will you be able to understand exactly where the problem is? Difficult but not impossible, for this reason, we try to renew the welds, of SMD or other present in that area, unless it is BGA chips, or tiny stuff, it can be done with a fine-tipped solder.
https://theretroweb.com/motherboard/image/asu … a1438850683.jpg

Today I did some RAM tests, on the ABIT SE6, initially I had a 64 MB PC133 RAM, later I added a second 256 MB RAM, getting a total of 320 MB.

There was something that didn't convince me, one of the two doesn't seem to be a PC133, but it could be a PC100, we're talking about the 256 MB one, from the QTPRO diagnostic program, I get these results, the 64 MB one is a PC133, and it has a 6ns chip, while the 256 MB one is a PC100, with an 8ns chip, despite this from BIOS I read 133 MHz, so maybe it's still able to work at 133 MHz anyway?

Trying other 256 MB RAM, looking for someone who has a 6ns chip, I run out of RAM available, because I have very few, and because some are read at half the capacity, so I decide to try with two 128 MB RAM, the total goes down to 256 MB, but overall it can go, and in any case I could add a third RAM, to get 320 MB or more, it depends on the capacity I would use.

The two 128 MB twin RAM (single-sided), from the diagnostic, are still ️ of the PC100, but the chips are 7ns, at startup you can read a total of 256 MB, working at 133 MHz, for now I'm satisfied with this, I don't think it's necessary to change again ️ RAM, for the moment I won't overclock, I would only have to install Windows in a memory card of a few GB .

I will probably use an IDE 40PIN SD adapter, with an SD memory card of about 8 GB, with this available space, I could load a Windows, to choose between 98SE ME 2000 and XP, perhaps the most correct (of the period) would be ME, but in the past I remember that I had on the P3-800 Windows 2000, fortunately I can easily change the memory card, and I could put a different version of Windows in another SD.

Here we are, today I have time to write something, for this weekend I will be quite busy, and I have to postpone the installation of any Windows, because it takes about an hour, and that is quite a long time ⏱.

I can anticipate the next motherboard I will try, it is quite interesting, but this kind of motherboards, was not very common, but it was very cheap, it gave the possibility of updating any Pentium PC (or lower).

What is it about?

Of a motherboard AT slot1, with integrated audio, I already have some similar boards, this is identified as PCCHIPS M725, it is actually a MB686BX-A1, the same model with different name and brand, contrary to what you can imagine, the chipset is not Intel, but ALI M1621 (N.B.) and M1543 (S.B.).

In addition to the AT power connector, there is the ATX one, there is an AGP 2X slot, three PCI slots and two ISA, for the RAM we have the possibility to use three SDRAM, depending on the capacity of the modules, we can at most get around half a gig.

For this PC, I should use a Celeron 300 or 333 slot1, if I read that right, it doesn't have FSB 100, so you might need one of the first Pentium II, but I don't think I have any available, maybe though, I could recover one, changing CPUs to some MB Intel BX, I'm sure there's something like that, and that I can change it with a Pentium 2-3 400-500.

What else to add to this motherboard, aka PCCHIPS M725, first of all, in the past I had a very similar one (if not the same), it was in a batch of PCs that I had withdrawn, the CPU present in that motherboard, it was a Pentium II 300 MHz, that CPU turned out to be working, and it is currently in another Slot1 system, unfortunately I could not make the card work, and following hardware damage, it was not possible to repair it, so after many years, I looked for an equal one to rebuild the PC, until now I had found some very similar ones, But not the same.

Currently in the case 🏘 of that PC, I have a Jetway with K6-2-500@475, I think that later, after doing some tests on the bench, I will replace the Jetway with this M725, but first, since there should be an HD and a Windows installed, I will do some bench, to be able to compare the scores.

This card, as I have already written, has integrated audio, so let's say that it is not necessary to add other cards, unless you need a particular card, for example a LAN or modem, for these however there could be the predisposition, on the motherboard there could be a special connector, usually on PCCHIPS motherboards, there is a lot of integration, so a special bracket may be enough, to add one or both, so you don't need any ISA or PCI card, in short, the expansion slots, although they are few, all remain free.

For more information and curiosity, you can find everything you need on:

Https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m725

We'll see in the next few days, if I can reassemble the PC with the PCCHIPS M725 motherboard, currently there is a Jetway S.7, in that case 🏘.

Originally, that PC had a PII 300, later I used it in another PC, maybe on a Soyo Slot1, I should look through PCs without cases 🏘, and in case I find it, I should replace it with something slightly faster, I think a 400 or a PIII 500, in this way I recovered the 300, which I can put back on the M725.

Everything else is quite simple, for the RAM I could put two pieces of 64 MB each, I would still have the possibility to add a third module, one of 128 MB, it would be useful if you need a lot of RAM.

The audio is integrated, I have the bracket with the three jack sockets, plus the game port, in short it will be enough to connect the cable to the MB, and load the drivers, for these maybe I have a CD of a similar model, it is likely that there are some that go well, possibly I could not find them in the CD, I could always look for them on I.N., in short, nothing complicated (I guess).

For the VGA AGP, you would need an AGP 2X model, in memory I don't remember if there was a 4 MB Intel i740 card, in short I just have to look among the cards I have available, I think an ATI RAGE or something similar, for a similar PC, can be suitable, unfortunately I don't have S3 Savage type cards, which would probably have been more correct (???).

A few more days, and then I should be able to do, test and bench, both with the M725 and with the Jetway S.7 with K6-2-500@475.

Today we will see if we can do something, among the cards to try I have the M725, actually it has another name, as you read on the sticker, it says MB-686BXA1, but they are the same card with a different name.

I start by noting, that there are two selections for FSB, 66 and 100 MHz, I thought I understood that the maximum was 66, so this can be interesting, if by chance I wanted to overclock, typical are those of the Celeron 300 brought to 450, currently the jumper is on 2-3, so the FSB 66 is selected, I don't know if there is a third secret setting, that is, without any jumper, I don't think there can be, I think there are only two possible selections, if the jumper is on 1-2 the FSB goes to 100, in both settings, the PCI goes At 33 MHz, the frequency generator should be a CMA8864BF-26, maybe looking for a PDF on the internet, you could see if it can generate other frequencies, which are not used in this MB.

So I start with the collect and add, everything necessary for a first start, there is the possibility of adding more later, for the moment you need a CPU, a RAM, and a video card, for the latter I would initially use a PCI, then after ascertaining that the PC works, I would change the VGA with an AGP.

As you can see, I have the bracket available for the integrated audio, I will connect it later, when I install Windows, for the moment it is not necessary, other typical brackets of the PCCHIPS motherboards are missing, the one with the PS2 and USB port, I don't know if you can also connect the modem and the LAN?

But looking at the board, I just noticed a hw damage to be fixed, a PIN of the U1 chip, is detached, and following the impact, it touches the one next to it, unfortunately for today it will not be possible to do anything else, in the next few days, I should start to see if I can straighten it and re-sealt it, I think it is a transport damage, unfortunately sometimes it happens, fortunately it is not tiny, with a little work, I could be able to put it back in place.

The problem with the M725, that is the PIN of the chip is crooked U1, has almost been solved, I straightened the PIN, now I have to solder it, to restore the original functionalities, I have no idea what the chip does, above it says GD7532, I hope it is not an essential chip for operation, and that above all it is not electrically damaged, because it seemed to me in contact with the nearby PIN, although in the worst case, I would have a replacement chip, which I could take from the scrap motherboard, but there is a difference in name, in that it is an HT6571, I guess it is the same chip, or a Replacement chip, name difference aside.

Currently in the board to try, there are jumpers set for FSB 66 MHz, and multi 4.5X, so it would seem that the last CPU used was a 300 MHz, actually on the images I had seen, I read 233 or 266 MHz, in the end this matters relatively, on the back of the motherboard, there is a sticker of 07 1998, which should be the date of sale of the motherboard.

From the other settings of the jumpers, I see that the RAM works at 3.3V, and the BIOS chip instead at 12V, a normal value maybe for the old MB, the chip is a DIP32, I didn't check the brand and the model, because I should remove the sticker, for the moment it's not necessary, but in case of need it can be done.