Just got this 486 MOBO. I was surprised as how small it is, although in the picture a faithfull comparison cannot be seen. Look at those cache chips size! I wonder if they are fake. Haven't tried the board yet.
Has any of you tried this one before?
I think its a M921 486AVIP ver:1.1
Comparison picture:
I have the same board. It is PC Chips with fake cache. It is good for overclocking,but that's it. Doesn't take too much performance hit running the board without L2 cache (see my P90 vs Overdrive thread)
wrote:I have the same board. It is PC Chips with fake cache. It is good for overclocking,but that's it. Doesn't take too much performance hit running the board without L2 cache (see my P90 vs Overdrive thread)
Which one are you talking about vetz? The one on the left or right?
The board in the top picture, the PC Chips M921
Wow, so it is definitely a pc chips? Too bad!
Just read your threat vetz. Seems I've also been "tricked" hehe. We seem to share the same path when it comes to retro hardware. First the Power Leap and the Abit board, now this, hehe
Pingaloka whats wrong with PCChips anyway? why such a shame.
What did you pay for it? i would love to have a board like that... and the cache is fake indeed but you can remove it and replace it with 32p sockets and real pc chips.
wrote:Pingaloka whats wrong with PCChips anyway? why such a shame.
What did you pay for it? i would love to have a board like that... and the cache is fake indeed but you can remove it and replace it with 32p sockets and real pc chips.
Well is a shame perfomace-wide, off course being a vintage piece of hardware it has its own value.
I didn't pay much for the board, didn't know that it had fake cache, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it.
So chips can be replaced? Which ones do I need?
Do they have to be PC chips?
Do they actually fit, I see that there's not much place...
I paid 20 euros BTW
This board was produced by other manufactures as well with real L2 cache. The board does support it. It has jumpers, tracers and everything. I'm pretty sure Janoz is correct when he says that soldering on some cache chips will work.
See this homepage for more info on jumper settings, and other stuff:
http://th2chips.freeservers.com/syl8884/
If you send it to me in the netherlands, and pay me the shipping back i can put some dip sockets in there for free of charge for you.
You will have to put in your own style of cache though, as i do not have much to spare.
If i would know of a good cache supplier than i could provide but i have no cache supplier connections, i would love to buy some of that 1megabit 10ns dip32's like feipoa did.
....Or you would let me buy that board of your hands if you like 😀
BTW where is J1 located?
wrote:Just got this 486 MOBO. I was surprised as how small it is...
You think that is small? HA! you should google the PC/104 standard.
case in point:
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
😳
wrote:Pingaloka whats wrong with PCChips anyway? why such a shame.
What did you pay for it? i would love to have a board like that... and the cache is fake indeed but you can remove it and replace it with 32p sockets and real pc chips.
Just curious, Why do you appreciate this board so much Janoz? What does it have that it attracts you to it?
Any full blown PC/104 Standard PC's out there that'll be good for gaming?
wrote:Just curious, Why do you appreciate this board so much Janoz? What does it have that it attracts you to it?
Well i own a PCChips 915 and i really loveit, and i would like to have a spare one for that.
I want to build a collection about 486 pcchips anyways because i cannot seem to afford hot433 and biostar mobos according to the ebay violence.
Those guys tend to have much deeper pockets than me.
Anyway i like pcchips for it to be around and they support the umc8881 chipset which is a favourite of me. i used to have several sis496 pci 4dps boards but they sucket at performance compared to ALI or UMC, so when i got the 915 i was really surpised with umc performance, and i do not see many of these boards around, only ali and sis, and that i do not want.
So i would check it out and place dip sockets for the cache and install some 512Kbit srams from issi that i have, and maybe later ever i can upgrade to 1024kbit srams 10ns if i can find a trustworthy china contact.
I got the board and did some fake shit removal.
Cache before:
Cache after:
Do you notice the empty smd capacitors spots like CB7 near the power connectors, should there be any capacitors installed if i put in sockets and real cache chips.
Can anyone confirm with having the same board layout and real cache ?
you do need them, I forget the name, I want to say decoupling caps. They should be like .01uf or similar. if you can, salvage some from a dead board, is what I would do.
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
You can even still buy some new, old-stock DIP-32 sockets for this project.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221119045395
Aside from the decoupling caps, you'll probably also need to figure out what missing jumpers there are to set the cache size - 256K or 512K. The jumper header may not even be on the board. Sometimes there are wire shorts in its place.
Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.
I will put 120nf caps on there from a modern piece of scrap.
I ordered some dip32 and 28 at work for 0.30 dollars each, awaiting to arrive. 😀
Btw the cache size jumper is indeed the u4 with the red jumper in the top corner, it is set to 128k atm.
So i have no worries there.
Nice Janoz! If I only knew how to do this!! Hope you enjoy it.
