First post, by swampfox
- Rank
- Newbie
Not my image, as I'm bad at taking pictures, but its the exact one, model and all, D3830-60003.
So I came across this Socket 7 motherboard today in a pile, along with another three the same type.
I originally mistook this as an SBC, but later found it is the mainboard in the HP Vectra VL/5.
Uses AT-style power supply, I believe.
Strangely enough, it uses a DIP switch, instead of jumpers, to set the CPU Clock Frequency, between 120MHz and 200MHz.
It requires a COAST module for L2 cache, which unfortunately I do not have. How will this affect the machines performance?
I also notice there are not expansion slots whatsoever, so the connector on the top of the motherboard must be used to connect to a backboard that housed expansion slots.
Do I actually need this for operation? It appears that mostly everything is onboard that is required for operation. Have PS/2 KB/M, two serial ports, one parallel port, and DE-15 VGA out
with the graphics hardware actually being an S3 Trio64V2/DX, with 1MB VRAM. Also real bizarre is two USB ports. Being a 94/95 era board, this is pretty interesting. Also, instead of a PC-Speaker, there is an interesting piezo tweeter onboard in a weird square shape. In the image its above the SIMM slots.
Also below the ZIF Socket for the CPU is a header for a Voltage Regulator Module. VRMs are only required for certain CPUs, right? How can I tell which CPU would require it?
The only Socket 7 CPUs I have lying around are a Pentium MMX 233, an AMD K6-2-CXT (up to 500MHz), and a Pentium Classic 100. The latter two aren't technically Socket 7, but they work in the socket (they're Super Socket 7 and Socket 5, respectively).
Would it be worth the time and effort trying to build a rig using these boards? Should I go back and grab the other three similar boards? On one of the other boards, the video solution is a Cirrus Logic chip instead of S3, but otherwise appeared all the same. Also, anywhere I could look for a Vectra manual? as HP no longer has them archived and I have trouble finding one.
Thanks in advance.
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