First post, by clueless1
- Rank
- l33t
I came across an ebay listing for a 486 VLB motherboard with a DX2/66, 256kb cache and 4MB. Not much info, not even whether it worked or not. Price was $39 shipped. I was tempted, but knew I didn't have an AT case, keyboard, PSU, etc. I posted it in the "Ebay auctions cheap/special not for me, but maybe for you?" thread. The next day, I noticed it still hadn't sold. I thought some more, then decided what the heck. At the same time, I bought an AT to PS/2 adapter ($2.50) and an ATX to AT PSU adapter with power switch ($8.50). I already owned a VLB graphics card (the only 486 component I held onto from back in the day). I looked at the controller cards, but they were much pricier than I expected. Minimum $30 for a VLB card, and not much less for an ISA. So I bought the mobo, keyboard and PSU adapters for $50 total and decided to wait for better prices on the I/O card. The motherboard arrived looking brand new. Barrel battery looked new too--no leakage whatsoever. After I hooked it all up on the bench, it powered on! Without an I/O card I couldn't do more than go into the BIOS and poke around. I did figure out that the barrel battery would not hold a charge, so I went ahead and desoldered it and made a CR2032 adapter for the battery header. After testing, it worked. Great!
It turns out the motherboard is the same brand as my graphics card: Genoa TurboExpress 3-VL, with an SiS 85C461 chipset. I did find the motherboard manual online, but cannot find any performance info on this motherboard or chipset. Nothing in Phil's VGA database, etc. Anyone know how this board/chipset performs compared to other VLB boards of the day?
My graphics card is a Genoa 8500VL with a Cirrus Logic GD5428 chip (Rev A if that means anything). It's a total fluke that I held onto this card. I couldn't tell you why, I just know I found it among my belongings in my old bedroom when I visited my mom last summer.
So my first question is, what type of HDD support should I expect with typical VLB I/O cards? Will I need a 500MB HDD to work with them, or will they recognize something bigger? Because the smallest working HDD I have is 1GB. Just trying to plan out any additional expenses ahead of time. Here's some photos:
Thanks!
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
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