VOGONS


First post, by AngryByDefault

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Hi!
So, I am building a AMD themed retro PC (or at least attempting to) , and in this quest I stumbled upon an ad for a "Socket 7 Compaq Deskpro" mainboard which happens to have an AMD chipset.

This includes two riser cards for up to 3 PCI slots and 2 ISA slots, but no CPU, mems, PSU or case.

For what I've read the chipset might be a rebranded SIS or VIA, and not really AMD manufactured, but still it would fit well with the theme ....
I also know Compaq, HP, and the like usually cripple their BIOS...
Form factor and layout also seem far from your standard AT/ATX boards, but I don't plan a "normal" layout for the build so that is a concern but not the main one.

So my question is if you think it might be worth giving it a try or if you know by experience that there won't be much I could do with such a board.

Thanks in advance!
(I'll try to get an image of it)

Edit: some grammar.

Reply 1 of 11, by Joakim

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If it was a complete system I would say go for it. Getting a case that fits what I assume is a low end motherboard will be hard I guess. But maybe you are a very clever person who likes a Dremel challenge. 😀

Reply 2 of 11, by Caluser2000

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AngryByDefault wrote on 2021-06-16, 18:52:
Hi! So, I am building a AMD themed retro PC (or at least attempting to) , and in this quest I stumbled upon an ad for a "Socket […]
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Hi!
So, I am building a AMD themed retro PC (or at least attempting to) , and in this quest I stumbled upon an ad for a "Socket 7 Compaq Deskpro" mainboard which happens to have an AMD chipset.

This includes two riser cards for up to 3 PCI slots and 2 ISA slots, but no CPU, mems, PSU or case.

For what I've read the chipset might be a rebranded SIS or VIA, and not really AMD manufactured, but still it would fit well with the theme ....
I also know Compaq, HP, and the like usually cripple their BIOS...
Form factor and layout also seem far from your standard AT/ATX boards, but I don't plan a "normal" layout for the build so that is a concern but not the main one.

So my question is if you think it might be worth giving it a try or if you know by experience that there won't be much I could do with such a board.

Thanks in advance!
(I'll try to get an image of it)

Edit: some grammar.

Nother wrong with bad grandmas, if you know what I mean 😉

If the system is complete, working fine(ignore any consemitic damage -a few scratches or small dents as they can be fix easily) go for it.

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 3 of 11, by dionb

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No case? Not much point. These were non-standard systems (LPX-ish) with exactly one case they would fit in.

Apart from that, the AMD640 is a Via VP2, which is more-or-less on par with i430TX.

Pros VP2:
- more and more flexible memory support
- more cache support (up to 2MB)
- can cache more memory (if there's enough cache present, cacheable limit in Via chipsets is dependent on quantity of cache)

Pros i430TX:
- faster clock-for-clock memory performance

Both:
- UDMA IDE
- can unofficially run up to 83MHz FSB (though not sure you can configure that on a board like this)

On a nice standard AT or ATX board I'd say a VP2 is a fine if somewhat eccentric option, similar to say the SiS 5582. A full DeskPro case with all the original innards and peripherals would be nice too. But this... if you're just looking for trouble-free So7, don't. Stay standard.

Reply 4 of 11, by chinny22

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Deskpro's don't cripple the bios, as they don't have one! (well not in the traditional sense)
You'll need to have a special boot disk to gain access and make changes. This gives you an idea, and yes your options are very limited.
http://seriss.com/people/erco/compaq-deskpro-2000

I really like these old DeskPro's their built like a tank, reliable and a bit eccentric but have to agree, I would want the corresponding case as a minimum unless you really want to go crazy with case modding

Reply 5 of 11, by AngryByDefault

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Amazing how much info, and how quickly, you guys can bring up on just about any topic.

I wonder why these people (Compaq, HP, et. al) come up with these bizarre ideas as to this "non-BIOS".... Indeed something very good to know beforehand.

Still, your knot making a great job at discouraging me from making something stupid.... I am still considering getting it and downloaded the provided utils just in case.

My "project", if I ever pull it off, aims to be anything but "standard"...

Thanks for the help!

Reply 6 of 11, by chinny22

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AngryByDefault wrote on 2021-06-20, 01:01:

Still, your knot making a great job at discouraging me from making something stupid.... I am still considering getting it and downloaded the provided utils just in case.

Who are we to say your idea is stupid?
Been some crazy projects here like water cooled P3 been one of my favourites
BUILD COMPLETE(?): P3/V5500/GF2Ultra Water Cooled Build - A Marriage of Retro and Modern

Was that pointless and stupid, well yeh I spose, But did I think it was awesome? you bet!

You've a rough idea of the limitations of that hardware if it still suits your needs and its a good price then happy days!

Reply 7 of 11, by Jasin Natael

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I would avoid it altogether unless it is complete.

If it is complete then it will probably work just fine, possibly need a PSU rebuild or a recap, but that is always a possibility with any old system.

I had a Compaq Presario 5152 or some such Socket 7 machine that i managed to get a K6-3+ running at 100x5.5 (OG was a K6-2 350) and it honestly performed nicely with a Voodoo 3 and Vortex 2 for a few years.

Then the PSU died and and I never could get it to run stably with another AT power supply. Could've just needed a recap, but I gave up on it as it wasn't standard form factor and it was PITA to work in.

Reply 8 of 11, by BitWrangler

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IDK if Compaq had an early attempt super 7 board that wasn't quite stable at 100 for 100% of machines, but they had a K6-2 380 that ran on 4x95... maybe it was how they liked to quantise their model range, or maybe AMD got a load of "not quite 100" dies and made Compaq a deal for them. There were a crapton of those 380s on the surplus market for a while in the '00s all with compaq part numbers on them. I haven't come across a 380 that wasn't traceable to Compaq.

Anyway, they usually had stable well sorted boards, even if they weren't very hot roddable. Go for it if you're building a desk drawer computer or something and don't need bleeding edge overclockability or anything.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 9 of 11, by Jasin Natael

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BitWrangler wrote on 2021-06-22, 15:16:

IDK if Compaq had an early attempt super 7 board that wasn't quite stable at 100 for 100% of machines, but they had a K6-2 380 that ran on 4x95... maybe it was how they liked to quantise their model range, or maybe AMD got a load of "not quite 100" dies and made Compaq a deal for them. There were a crapton of those 380s on the surplus market for a while in the '00s all with compaq part numbers on them. I haven't come across a 380 that wasn't traceable to Compaq.

Anyway, they usually had stable well sorted boards, even if they weren't very hot roddable. Go for it if you're building a desk drawer computer or something and don't need bleeding edge overclockability or anything.

The one I had was manufactured by Mitac if I remember correctly. It was actually a pretty nice board and supported K6-2/3+ chips at 2.0v and even had jumpers allowing for 66/75/83/100mhz FSB.

It was just very proprietary in nature and there was really no way to use it with a standard AT case or standard PSU.

And of course it was picky on RAM support and PCI/ISA only no AGP.

Reply 10 of 11, by AngryByDefault

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Great insights everyone, much appreciated, as usual 😀

Of course my comment about me doing something silly was a joke, I hope that didn' t got lost in translation...

That watercooled project looks awesome, I bookmarked it for a later reading.

Thanks!