Is there every any reason to remove a coast module from a motherboard to intentionally slow down performance?

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-18, 15:21:

Is there every any reason to remove a coast module from a motherboard to intentionally slow down performance?

I have an AT box with a PCChips VX motherboard that came with fake L2 cache and no COAST module. I bought one on Ebay, and it does work; but it will only work @ 66 MHz. If you set the FSB to 75 MHz, it won't work. I bought an Evergreen 400 MHz upgrade, and swapped the standard K6-2 400 for a K6-3+ 400 that runs @ 450 MHz with no issue, negating any need for the COAST module.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-04-18, 16:12:

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-18, 15:21:

Is there every any reason to remove a coast module from a motherboard to intentionally slow down performance?

I have an AT box with a PCChips VX motherboard that came with fake L2 cache and no COAST module. I bought one on Ebay, and it does work; but it will only work @ 66 MHz. If you set the FSB to 75 MHz, it won't work. I bought an Evergreen 400 MHz upgrade, and swapped the standard K6-2 400 for a K6-3+ 400 that runs @ 450 MHz with no issue, negating any need for the COAST module.

yeah, but you kept PCChips motherboard, so thats not normal behavior in the first place 😜
Repo Man11 the reason is scrapping electro junk, coast looks like simm so it goes to the ram pile

Bought some uncommon items.

Rioworks PSVA

Buffalo TGP-VR4 (PowerVR PCX1, very rare version)

Boxed Powerleap Neo-S370

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-04-18, 16:50:

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-04-18, 16:12:

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-18, 15:21:

Is there every any reason to remove a coast module from a motherboard to intentionally slow down performance?

I have an AT box with a PCChips VX motherboard that came with fake L2 cache and no COAST module. I bought one on Ebay, and it does work; but it will only work @ 66 MHz. If you set the FSB to 75 MHz, it won't work. I bought an Evergreen 400 MHz upgrade, and swapped the standard K6-2 400 for a K6-3+ 400 that runs @ 450 MHz with no issue, negating any need for the COAST module.

yeah, but you kept PCChips motherboard, so thats not normal behavior in the first place 😜
Repo Man11 the reason is scrapping electro junk, coast looks like simm so it goes to the ram pile

Yep, the module was in the SIMM pile…looks vaguely similar.

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-18, 15:21:

Is there every any reason to remove a coast module from a motherboard to intentionally slow down performance?

There is usually the option of disabling L2 in BIOS so physically removing not really necessary. Depends a lot on the board/chipset/installed RAM... I had a 430FX board that for the longest time ran with a P100 and no COAST module in it, when finally, finally, I found one that worked in the board, general performance was improved a whole 3% or so, though you could see the step in the graph on cachechk utils. Had tight timed EDO in that one. I would imagine if you had something like 70ns FPM in the board it would have looked more impressive, like over 10%.

Just found a GeForce4 Ti 4200 on eBay for only $40.44 total, including shipping and taxes (~$20). On top of that, it's an Asus (V8420), which matches up perfectly with my K7V -- I was planning on going for a GeForce2 Pro or Ti (V7700), or a Radeon 7500, but I'm not a period snob. I've got a PII and various G4s I can use for period accuracy if I want. I mean, it's not like nobody in the world updated their two year old PC with a new graphics card, either. It was just too good a deal to pass up, I feel like the only way to relive the experience would be to start buying up those gold reclamation lots.

Listing image, it's not here yet, it's coming internationally so it'll be like two months, but it's worth it.

JustJulião wrote on 2023-04-18, 17:21:

Bought some uncommon items. […]
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Bought some uncommon items.

Rioworks PSVA
IMG_20230418_191301.jpg

Buffalo TGP-VR4 (PowerVR PCX1, very rare version)
IMG_20230418_191023.jpg

Boxed Powerleap Neo-S370
IMG_20230418_191004.jpg

very nice! i like the Powerleap, you can still find lots of info on it around the web, other than a little bit of scuffing on the box it looks new

This 386...
Mobo needs some cleaning and fresh battery. Powers on and POSTs, HDD is dead, needs some more testing...

Also this big tower which seems to work just fine...

And this socket 3 Highscreen and this socket 7 minitower which also work fine...

And this socket 7 minitower...

HanJammer wrote on 2023-04-19, 00:11:

This 386...
Mobo needs some cleaning and fresh battery. Powers on and POSTs, HDD is dead, needs some more testing...

Got a case rather similar to that one, has an AEG Olympia badge and specs for 286 on the label, doesn't have those parts any more though. Mine does not have a Mhz display though. Just saying because there's a slight chance that's a later/better model of Olympia.

@ATi_Loyalist You'll probably love this.

Scored these from another forum (which me and @Robert B usually frequent). ABIT IS7-E v1.2 + HIS Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB w/ Sapphire HSF.

The X1950 just needed a slight reflow of the bridge chip and it's now back in business, I'll be also pasting a heatsink over that bridge bugger so it won't die again, now that I also added a thermal pad from a dead X1650 Pro.

Fan on the IS7 NB isn't original btw, it's from a dead ASUS K8N4-E northbridge cooler.

Been a bit quiet lately as work and rising cost for shipping and imports have made me avoid trawling Evilbay as much but I have picked up a few bits of kit that were too good to pass up.

Got another MO Drive + a bunch of media from a seller locally, I have a thing for MO tech as I find it to be exceptionally reliable when compared to similar storage choice of the era, its certainly more reliable than Zip Drives which have a habit of getting the click of death. This drive has been tested along with the media and it all checks out great so itll be joining the other MO drive as my goto retro file transfer device.

Recently I saw this Gigabyte 970A with a FX 8350, 16Gb, Cooler and Wifi Card for sale on Evilbay for 150 bucks and thought there had to be a catch but nope it arrived yesterday and it all works beautifully, now I get that its not exactly retro but the CPU is going to be shelved and a Phenom X6 1100T is going in this board with a pair of GTX 580Ti cards for a nice late end XP SLI rig. I would use a pair of 660ti cards but nVidia did a NoVideo thing and disabled SLI for cards after the 580 for XP. (Could dual boot it with Vista Ultimate/ Win7 too)

I would use the FX8350 but its too new for this build and might get used else where as I have a 990FX board in storage that would better suit it, not sure how I feel about Bulldozer era CPUs, Sandybridge was miles better but this CPU might be fun to OC a bit.

Finally, after many years of search, I found a Gigabyte ga-8knxp-ultra 64 socket 478 motherboard. Luckily it came with a sl7ch Pentium 4 3.4 extreme CPU, original audio/USB brackets and 4x Corsair 1GB XMS3200 sticks, iirc these should be TCCDs.
I am really happy with this purchase.
It'll get a proper cleanup first before I start testing it this weekend

frankmonk wrote on 2023-04-20, 17:48:

Finally, after many years of search, I found a Gigabyte ga-8knxp-ultra 64 socket 478 motherboard. Luckily it came with a sl7ch […]
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Finally, after many years of search, I found a Gigabyte ga-8knxp-ultra 64 socket 478 motherboard. Luckily it came with a sl7ch Pentium 4 3.4 extreme CPU, original audio/USB brackets and 4x Corsair 1GB XMS3200 sticks, iirc these should be TCCDs.
I am really happy with this purchase.
It'll get a proper cleanup first before I start testing it this weekend
Screenshot_2023-04-20-19-44-43-170_com.google.android.apps.photos.jpg
Screenshot_2023-04-20-19-45-10-672_com.google.android.apps.photos.jpg

that is the P4 beast itself!

gerry wrote on 2023-04-20, 19:44:

frankmonk wrote on 2023-04-20, 17:48:

Finally, after many years of search, I found a Gigabyte ga-8knxp-ultra 64 socket 478 motherboard. Luckily it came with a sl7ch […]
Show full quote

Finally, after many years of search, I found a Gigabyte ga-8knxp-ultra 64 socket 478 motherboard. Luckily it came with a sl7ch Pentium 4 3.4 extreme CPU, original audio/USB brackets and 4x Corsair 1GB XMS3200 sticks, iirc these should be TCCDs.
I am really happy with this purchase.
It'll get a proper cleanup first before I start testing it this weekend
Screenshot_2023-04-20-19-44-43-170_com.google.android.apps.photos.jpg
Screenshot_2023-04-20-19-45-10-672_com.google.android.apps.photos.jpg

that is the P4 beast itself!

It’s the spawn of Hell itself, would love one myself!

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-04-20, 08:00:

Been a bit quiet lately as work and rising cost for shipping and imports have made me avoid trawling Evilbay as much but I have picked up a few bits of kit that were too good to pass up.

Got another MO Drive + a bunch of media from a seller locally, I have a thing for MO tech as I find it to be exceptionally reliable when compared to similar storage choice of the era, its certainly more reliable than Zip Drives which have a habit of getting the click of death. This drive has been tested along with the media and it all checks out great so itll be joining the other MO drive as my goto retro file transfer device.

MO Drive.jpg128 MO.jpg640 MO.jpg

I have never used any MO devices. Do you have any suggestions for something affordable and reliable with sufficient compatibility (and speed?) to make it practical to use? I mean, realistically, I have Parallel port CF card readers that can work on systems all the way back to a 286 (and maybe a V20?) but if I come across one of these for cheap it could be neat to tinker with.

I agree. I would also love a MO drive to play with.