First thing first, the most important thing for a retro build is the purpose IMO, you will lost yourself completely if dont clearify the exact purpose of your expected build.

So, my purpose is to set up a reto win98se build w/i Pentium III(Coppermine) 667/733 Mhz, as a nice repalcement of my initial expected SS7 build with K6-2+/K6-3+, for later 90's dos games and DX5~DX6/Glide games.

Initially, I wished to build a SS7 rig with a high frequency K6-2+/K6-3+, to enjoy some high end dos games and some 3DNow support games but gave it up. High frequency K6-2+/K6-3+ are generally quite rare and very expensive in Japan, because IBM/AT PC was beaten by the NEC PC-88/98 series computer at that time, and K6 series could be modified to powerfully upgrade those old made-in-Japan PCs.(I've mentioned NEC PCs before in another post). Then, the available SS7 MBs here are not good enough too. SS7 platform was popular as a mid-to-low end solution comparing to Intel's P2/P3 platform. So it is extremely difficult to find a perfect SS7 MB such as Aladin V or MVP3 chipset with 2MB onbaord cache, especially in Japan. I've kept seeking those things on Yahoo Auctions JP for years but rarely had a change to grab something within a reasonable price. Besides, 3Dnow becomes useless when it comes to a Pentium III in same frequency with 133 FSB, K6-2/3 will be beaten, by Coppermine, into shit even with the 3Dnow boost in games.

My second plan is to find an alternative K7 platform, which is much more powerful, ISA slot and 3Dnow support are still available, and I personally dislike Slot1 platform(generally UDMA33-only, poor 133 FSB support, and hard to find a suitalbe heatsink or cooler in Japan). But It's almost the same thing here as SS7's. Since the TV games & consoles are dominating Japan's domestic market from 1980's, the DIY and high-performance 3D PC games are not popular in Japan. PCs here are mostly used for office works, galgames, adult games and Japanese-style MMO RPGs(even WOW or League of Legends didnt boom here). Solid K7 MBs with ISA slots are quite rare, and K7 itself, is also a famouse beast for its heat generation and power comsumption.

So finally I turn out to seek a possible solution for the easy-to-find Pentium 3 platform here. A nice VIA based MB is the first choice, but again, solid MBs such as ASUS CUV4X/TUV4X are quite rare in Japan, especially the one with ISA slots. The BIOSATR M6VLQ is the best thing I could find so far.

Saotome Ranma wrote:

Hello guys, recently I found out a very nice and interesting MB would like to pick up, which also makes me headache a lot due to […]
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Hello guys, recently I found out a very nice and interesting MB would like to pick up, which also makes me headache a lot due to some minor but obvious defects.

I will post its pics, offical specs below and mention the shining or doubting points, then talk about my purpose of this excpeted build and the problems I probably may have to face to.

The MB is BIOSTAR M6VLQ v2.1, a solid, highly intergrated m-ATX MB in VIA PLE133T chipset.

Pic:

Biostar M6VLQ v2.1.jpg

Biostar M6VLQ IO Panel.jpg

Specs (from official website):

• Processor:
Intel P3 Coppermine, Tualatin (Nice!) and Intel Celeron processor
133MHz FSB

• Chipset:
VIA VT8601A(PLE133T)* / VT82C686B (Nice!)
[*Quite confused here, it is written on Wiki that NB of VIA PLE133T chipset should be a VT8601T, but all the official tech sheets shows the NB is a VT8601A on this board... Official PDF manual & validation test report:]
ftp://ftp.biostar-usa.com/manuals/M6VLQ/M6VLQmanual.pdf
ftp://ftp.biostar-usa.com/manuals/M6VLQ/M6VLQreport.pdf

• Memory:but
2 x 168-pin SDRAM DIMM
Maximum 1 GB (Less than 2GB of VIA 694X/T, but still much better than intel i81X series)
PC133

• Slots:
3 x PCI
1 x AMR
1 x ISA (version 2.1 only) (Excellent!!!)

• IDE:
4 x EIDE devices
Ultra DMA33/66/100 bus master mode

• I/O:
1 x Parallel, 1 x Serial
1 x PS/2 mouse, 1x PS/2 keyboard
2 x Rear USB
1 x Game Port, 1 x Speak-out, 1 x Line-in, 1 x Mic.-in
1 x Floppy Disk
2 x Front USB (Optional)

• Video:
Trident Blade 3D Core (Not bad IMO)

• Audio:
AC'97 2.1 CODEC Onboard

• Hardware Monitor:
CPU Fan Speed
System Temperature
System Voltage

• Size:
Micro ATX Form Factor
Dimension: 24.4cm X 20.0cm ( W x L )

I own three of this model. Two without the ISA slot and one with an ISA slot. Excellent for Tualatin builds but no AGP slots. The last bios updates allow for either a startup or no startup screen logo and better sdram timings with Hynix ram I think.

I own three of this model. Two without the ISA slot and one with an ISA slot. Excellent for Tualatin builds but no AGP slots. The last bios updates allow for either a startup or no startup screen logo and better sdram timings with Hynix ram I think.

Thanks for ur kind reply dude, and sorry for my late update.

My questions and doubts are posted below, and could u give me some idea or advice of using this piece of MB?

If I grab this MB, it will be powered by a P3 Coppermine 667/733 with 133 FSB, so lowering FSP into 66Mhz will get me a P3 333/366, which is still acceptable for those 90's dos games and hi-end 3D dos games IMO. And when I boost FSP upto 133Mhz, a Pentium 667/733 can handle those early win9x games in DX5~DX6/Glide APIs quite well I believe.
(I got a rig w/i Pentium MMX 133 and onboard S3 Virge to run CPU speed sensitive games. For those extreme cases, they will be handled with DOSBOX instead)

Graphic card will be a voodoo3 3000. Voodoo3 has a crystal clear image quality, far better resolution support (up to 2048x1536@75Hz), excellent dos game compatibility (again, exceptions will be run on my PMMX 133 rig or dosbox), powerful performance and full support for win9x GUI acceleration, D3D 6.0 & Glide. DX7+ games will be run on other rigs with Matrox Parhelia-512 or FX5900.

These are my basic idea concerning to this MB, but here are problems:

1.Proper memory capacity.
We all know Win98se supports up to 512MB ram, but only less than 256MB could be managed efficiently, And even with only 256MB ram, some dos game cannot be run in such circumstance. So could you guys give me some idea or experience in a familiar condition?

2.Graphic chip & cards
About the onboard Trident Blade 3D graphic chips, does anyone have any idea about it? This is something I've never experienced, but seems it has great dos compatibility according to Vogons' graphic cards/dos games compatibilities matrix. I need more information about itselft and relative drivers.

About the addon graphic cards. This MB is in m-ATX size w/i onboard Graphic chip, w/o AGP slot, and only 3 PCI & 1 ISA slots are available. So Voodoo 3 3000 PCI is the best option for my purpose. But it is not perfect, openGL functionality is the biggest weak point. Is it necessary to build a dual-graphic system with a Geforce PCI card? Because the available space and slots are quite limited, and my Voodoo3 3000 PCI is modified with an external fan to cool the great heat generated, which means 2 PCI slots will be occupied and only the last PCI/ISA sharing slot on the bottom is available. But I do want dos games compatibility with a compatible MPU-401 port, ISA slot sound card seems to be a must-have in this case. Should I trade openGL functionality for a real ISA sound card?

3.Audio chip & cards
About its AC'97 codec, does anyone know the details of audio chip onboard? I found its MPU-401 function onboard may be enabled in the BIOS according to the official manuals (not sure about it yet), and seems DOS drivers (anyone tried before?) for VIA AC'97 codec could be found online. So I wish to keep it running functionally if it is MPU-401 compatible, in order to use a separate SB16 CT2940 to avoid any notorious hanging note bug, or even try a PCI sound card such as Yamaha 7X4 or MX300 to gain more features in win9x.

4. About the ISA slot.
ISA slot is available from the VT82C686B SB chip, but listed as “version 2.1 only” in the official specs. So is any negative influence or functional defect could be engaged into according to this caution (especially in DOS)?

Guys, please give me some of your idea and experience on this case, to help me make wiser decision on grabbing this MB or keeping seeking for a better ATX MB?

Your kindly reply will be highly appreciated!

😵 😵 😵
Still in hope of getting some advice here...

For the Voodoo 3 cooler, why not mount a fan above the slot blowing down on the card?

That way, you will not be taking up two slots for the Voodoo 3.

The heat generation is not really that bad. You just have to have some air movement to keep it nice and cool.

The Trident blade 3d is supposed to be a pretty decent chipset for DOS stuff, but not sure you even need to worry about it if you are going to have a Voodoo 3 in the system which also has great DOS compatibility.

cyclone3d wrote:

For the Voodoo 3 cooler, why not mount a fan above the slot blowing down on the card? […]
Show full quote

For the Voodoo 3 cooler, why not mount a fan above the slot blowing down on the card?

That way, you will not be taking up two slots for the Voodoo 3.

The heat generation is not really that bad. You just have to have some air movement to keep it nice and cool.

The Trident blade 3d is supposed to be a pretty decent chipset for DOS stuff, but not sure you even need to worry about it if you are going to have a Voodoo 3 in the system which also has great DOS compatibility.

Thanks you very much, dude.

Finally, I decide to skip this MB and keep seeking for other better chance, an ATX-size MB with ISA slots, to set up a dual-graphic(Vodoo3+GF4 MX), dual-audio(SB AWE32 and Diamond MX200) system (maybe I need another extra USB 2.0 board for data transfer). This MB cant provide me more than 3 slots available at the same time, even I like its integrated video chips and network adaptor...

But anyway, thank u so much for ur useful advice! The only bad news left is, solid VIA MB for SS7, K7 or Pentium III is extremely rare in Japan. Seems still need to wait for a quite long time, sigh....

Saotome Ranma wrote:

...The only bad news left is, solid VIA MB for SS7, K7 or Pentium III is extremely rare in Japan. Seems still need to wait for a quite long time, sigh....

Kind of sad, 694T boards aren't too rare here in Hungary. I have an MSI and an Epox myself. Abit VH6T was also recommended by an acquaintance of mine. All of them are full ATX. These boards aren't equally fast (there's something fishy when it comes to fastvid/mtrrlfbe) and they can't always perfectly cope with ISA sound cards, especially Gravis Ultrasounds.

Speaking of GUS, I'm curious if you can get these cards in Japan. I don't know much about demoscene activity there and these cards were less useful in gaming machines than Sound Blasters but absolutely essential for DOS demos. And a Tualatin P3 with GUS is a nice very late DOS compo machine.

alvaro84 wrote:

Saotome Ranma wrote:

...The only bad news left is, solid VIA MB for SS7, K7 or Pentium III is extremely rare in Japan. Seems still need to wait for a quite long time, sigh....

Kind of sad, 694T boards aren't too rare here in Hungary. I have an MSI and an Epox myself. Abit VH6T was also recommended by an acquaintance of mine. All of them are full ATX. These boards aren't equally fast (there's something fishy when it comes to fastvid/mtrrlfbe) and they can't always perfectly cope with ISA sound cards, especially Gravis Ultrasounds.

Speaking of GUS, I'm curious if you can get these cards in Japan. I don't know much about demoscene activity there and these cards were less useful in gaming machines than Sound Blasters but absolutely essential for DOS demos. And a Tualatin P3 with GUS is a nice very late DOS compo machine.

Wow?!? Would love to grab some of them, if it was possible.....literally.

Yup, VIA's chipsets are normally considered as trouble makers comparing to intel's, but ISA slot is no longer available on 8XX chipsets, and awsome BX boards with socket 370, 133 FSB, DMA 66/100 support are extremely hard to find here. Maybe Ali's chipset for K7 is another good choice, but have never tried yet.

GUS is as rare as hens' teeth, even in Japan. I've kept digging treature boxes out online here for more than 3 years, but only found GUS series audio board once, a red large board with upgradable ram, pricing over 400 US dollars... something out of my scope already...

Since the NEC PC88/98 was conquering Japan market, onboard Yamaha chips, Roland and OEMed Sound Blaster were the most popular things at that time, and they are relatively easy to find now. But for other nice audio board with bugless MPU-401, SB pro compatibilities, such as Audician 32, are barely can be seen.... Because they are not necessary parts for NEC PC88/98 series.