I dug something out on wayback machine.

It seems it's Manli M-MVP3 motherboard

https://web.archive.org/web/20010208105441/ht … m.hk/cat11.html

BTW.

Is ultimateretro still a thing? In last few months I added few BIOS-es to ultimateretro topic but they're still not uploaded so I'm unsure if it's even updated.

Who would put the L2 cache SRAM chip inside the CPU socket so it gets roasted and becomes unstable?
That´s even a worse idea than putting a mounting screw inside the CPU socket like ASUS did on the P5A-B.

majestyk wrote on 2022-07-04, 08:07:

Who would put the L2 cache SRAM chip inside the CPU socket so it gets roasted and becomes unstable?
That´s even a worse idea than putting a mounting screw inside the CPU socket like ASUS did on the P5A-B.

Someone wanting to make the smallest board possible. These boards are famous. Also, I've never heard of L2 cache issues with them, so in practice it's not so much of an issue. More like some nice creative engineering.

At least it´s only one small step away from putting L2 cache on the CPU die 😀

But I´m sure this depends heavily on the quality of the cache chip. It´s a 4nS type so maybe "Manli" used fast and selected chips to be on the safe side.
I have seen several instable cache chips just because the airstream wasn´t sufficient or there was an IDE cable in the way.

It's even SS7 😅. Although I'm unsure if it can use any K6-2, I have 350 and 500 MHz version. 350 MHz version works fine, 500 doesn't boot. Manual has jumper combos up to K6-2 350, but it also has tables for multipliers up to 5.5 and FSB 100 so it should be OK up to 550 MHz.

But since this is my only SS7 board I can't test if CPU is OK or not. When I try with post card it changes few states and then stops. Usually with bad CPUs it stays with -- on display 🤔.

One other fun fact about this board is that it has solder holes for keyboard PS/2 connector under AT connector. PCPartner variant of this board had few pins on AT connector broken, I didn't have replacement ones but I had PS/2 connectors and it works without problems 🙂.
You just need to insulate AT connector holes because PS/2 connector case can short circuit them 😬.

Probably the 500 is dead. Knowing this is a PCPartner board, I've seen quite a bunch of those sold here in Romania on classifieds, with most of them including either a 450 or a 500 non plus chip so they're usually supported out of the box on this thing, provided the jumpers are set correctly.

The only thing that irks me is the CPU fan placement.
I mean really, I understand PCPartner/Manli/Octek tried to make the smallest SS7 mainboard possible, but that CPU fan placement is just atrocious.

Yup, on one hand it's strange that they put it on opposite corner. But on the other hand, board is so small it doesn't really matter 🤣.