VOGONS


First post, by Synoptic

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F034nnxm.jpg

Reply 1 of 14, by oeuvre

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Not sure what make or model, but I am pretty sure it is based on the Intel 430TX... Socket 7 so it'd be a good DOS or 95 machine.

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7
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Reply 2 of 14, by Jorpho

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Is this your board? The easiest way to identify it would be to power it up and look at the BIOS ID.

ETA: "V1-8A" in the corner is a clue.
https://www.google.ca/search?q="v1-8a"+"socket+7"

Last edited by Jorpho on 2016-07-29, 02:44. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 3 of 14, by archsan

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Did this search: "motherboard intel 430VX 4 SIMM 1 DIMM 3 PCI 4 ISA AT"

i430VX-2A59Ht5BC-00 boards:- […]
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i430VX-2A59Ht5BC-00 boards:-

3 PCI, 4 ISA, 4 Simm, 1 Dimm, 1 USB = PcChips M520 or Skywell SW5100.

3 PCI, 4 ISA, 4 Simm, 1 Dimm, No USB = Amptron PM7900 or Skywell M520.

...

3 PCI, 4 ISA, 4 Simm, 1 Dimm, 2 USB = Houston Tech M520.

http://www.motherboards.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=33007
http://web.tiscali.it/acorp/mobo_spec/amptron … 7900/pm7900.htm
http://cwcyrix.duckdns.org/techpage/html/m9.html

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."—Arthur C. Clarke
"No way. Installing the drivers on these things always gives me a headache."—Guybrush Threepwood (on cutting-edge voodoo technology)

Reply 4 of 14, by nforce4max

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oeuvre wrote:

Not sure what make or model, but I am pretty sure it is based on the Intel 430TX... Socket 7 so it'd be a good DOS or 95 machine.

Lel that is a VX chipset ha ha ha snort ha ha.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 5 of 14, by noshutdown

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oeuvre wrote:

Not sure what make or model, but I am pretty sure it is based on the Intel 430TX... Socket 7 so it'd be a good DOS or 95 machine.

its obvious 430vs, tx are all in bga form.
i can't decide on the exact brand and model either, but the build quality looks fine.

Reply 6 of 14, by nforce4max

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Looking at the picture op can at least get the cpu setup correctly with the information available on the silk screen but he or she will need to buy a cache module for it. A single 64mb sdram module for the ram, the only real trouble will be needing to find the cables for it and just putting it all together. The only downside is that most AT cases don't have the cut out for the ps2 port.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 7 of 14, by archsan

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Look at the above links, the pictures/diagrams match well. Doesn't matter what the "exact" model/make/variation (PC-Chips/Amptron/Skywell etc), it'd be the same base board most likely coming from the same maker (PC-CHIPS and co aka Hsing Tech).

noshutdown wrote:

i can't decide on the exact brand and model either, but the build quality looks fine.

I'd have to look sideways (PCB thickness) to judge on quality... otherwise I'd agree with this quote from one of the above links:

It's a cheaply built run-of-the-mill motherboard from the mid-1990s.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."—Arthur C. Clarke
"No way. Installing the drivers on these things always gives me a headache."—Guybrush Threepwood (on cutting-edge voodoo technology)

Reply 8 of 14, by noshutdown

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archsan wrote:

Look at the above links, the pictures/diagrams match well. Doesn't matter what the "exact" model/make/variation (PC-Chips/Amptron/Skywell etc), it'd be the same base board most likely coming from the same maker (PC-CHIPS and co aka Hsing Tech).

I'd have to look sideways (PCB thickness) to judge on quality... otherwise I'd agree with this quote from one of the above links:

It's a cheaply built run-of-the-mill motherboard from the mid-1990s.

🤣, vx is a low end model from the beginning after all, compared to the smp-capable hx.

Reply 9 of 14, by Tetrium

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archsan wrote:
Look at the above links, the pictures/diagrams match well. Doesn't matter what the "exact" model/make/variation (PC-Chips/Amptro […]
Show full quote

Look at the above links, the pictures/diagrams match well. Doesn't matter what the "exact" model/make/variation (PC-Chips/Amptron/Skywell etc), it'd be the same base board most likely coming from the same maker (PC-CHIPS and co aka Hsing Tech).

noshutdown wrote:

i can't decide on the exact brand and model either, but the build quality looks fine.

I'd have to look sideways (PCB thickness) to judge on quality... otherwise I'd agree with this quote from one of the above links:

It's a cheaply built run-of-the-mill motherboard from the mid-1990s.

And while looking sideways, might as well take a look at the bottom side of the bottom ISA slot (so basically view the board from below so you see the thickness of the PCB and while at it, then look at the bottom ISA slot, on the black plastic), sometimes there might be a sticker with the model number hidden there.

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Reply 10 of 14, by brassicGamer

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VX gets a bad rap IMHO. Everyone always compared it to HX, but no one needs HX unless they want lots of RAM or multiple processors. VX is perfectly adequate for pretty much all domestic / gaming purposes. Plus it supports SDRAM, which is easier to get hold of than pairs of 72 pin SIMMS for most people. Yes this is a cheap board but 64MB of cacheable RAM is more than enough for most purposes on a pure DOS machine. Given it also has the USB header, you could even install Win95 OSR2.1 and make the most of it.

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Reply 11 of 14, by Synoptic

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Thanks All. I think it is the PcChips M520 because I have 1 USB header.

Reply 12 of 14, by Tetrium

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brassicGamer wrote:

VX gets a bad rap IMHO. Everyone always compared it to HX, but no one needs HX unless they want lots of RAM or multiple processors. VX is perfectly adequate for pretty much all domestic / gaming purposes. Plus it supports SDRAM, which is easier to get hold of than pairs of 72 pin SIMMS for most people. Yes this is a cheap board but 64MB of cacheable RAM is more than enough for most purposes on a pure DOS machine. Given it also has the USB header, you could even install Win95 OSR2.1 and make the most of it.

VX was supposedly better than its predecessor and I suppose it was more a mid-range chipset, considering the cheaper stuff that was around back then.

I don't consider VX a bad chipset, but it certainly is old and has its limitations (TX is more versatile).

Synoptic wrote:

Thanks All. I think it is the PcChips M520 because I have 1 USB header.

Enjoy 😁

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
Report spammers here!

Reply 13 of 14, by archsan

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Intel Tritons 430TX/VX/HX/FX (yes FX too!) are all great options for classic DOS machines. 😀

And I think it would be funny if, say in 2250 AD a few PC-Chips boards would survive while the ASUS & Gigabyte boards had all fallen. Who knows!

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."—Arthur C. Clarke
"No way. Installing the drivers on these things always gives me a headache."—Guybrush Threepwood (on cutting-edge voodoo technology)

Reply 14 of 14, by DaCiRO

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It’s a PCChips M520