What memory are you trying to upgrade? You have onboard video - if you want to add memory to that, there are two empty sockets that could be filled, no soldering required. An even easier way to add video memory and improve video performance would be to use a PCI video card rather than the onboard video.

If you want to add level two memory cache, you have an empty COAST slot, so again, no soldering required (though finding a COAST module that works can be an issue, they aren't as standardized as they could be). You have a VX chipset, so you do need to pay attention to the L2 cache when it comes to adding system memory. With 256k L2, you have 32 megabytes of cached system memory, which jumps to 64 megabytes with 512k L2. Assuming you have 256k L2 now (almost certainly) you can safely increase your system memory to 32 megabytes.

Your motherboard is called a Sniper, and here's one on Ebay with a COAST module installed; if not for the cost of shipping, it would almost be worth it just for the COAST module since they are so hard to find. But again, it would only really be necessary if you wanted to upgrade to 64 megabytes of system memory. https://www.ebay.com/itm/313681402257

Edit: If it has the cache upgrade, likely the memory has been upgraded to 64 megabytes. Since VX compatible SDRAM is also hard to find...

Re: Possible to run K6-3 with vcore of 2.8v?

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-03-22, 03:01:

Looks like you have some onboard ram. Which you may actually consider desoldering and putting all your ram in the provided slot. Because you should be able to get 128mb in the slot alone and with better chips. Otherwise you’ll be limited to 64mb plus whatever is on the board. (Your chipset supports max 128mb and with onboard plus 128mb in slot you’ll probably get errors)

Here is your best way to make that faster,

Find a pc133 128mb sdram stick, install it, and see if you get any errors (I think you probably will) a double sided stick probably has the best chance of working. So that’s one error you may see, but the error I’m worried about is having 128mb on the stick and 16mb on the board. I think once you remove the crappy onboard chips you can put some real ram in that system.

The chipset supports 128mb. That’s it.

You may be able to detect more but it will glitch when it tries to use it I suspect, so I think you’ll have to remove the onboard ram.

As for the cache, forget about it, it will probably be faster with it disabled anyway. (If you upgrade to a k6-3/2+/3+)

My advice is this:
Find a 128mb stick,
And try the stick and see what you get. Maybe it works, 🤷‍♂️ If so then great. (Memtest can’t test for this problem btw) you must boot windows and fill up all the memory with programs and tasks. If no crash then all good.

Next, in the other thread it was identified which pin on your voltage controller was keeping you from getting to 2.0v

Lift that pin and bridge it to vcc3 or vss (3.3v or ground) though a resistor (probably 1k ohm or so) and that should move your base voltage (all jumpers off) from 2.8 to 2.0v allowing you to use a k6-3/2+/3+ Re: Possible to run K6-3 with vcore of 2.8v?

Next go to the diy modding support for k6-3+ thread and get your bios all patched up. Re: Diy modding support for k6+And 120gb hard drives into bios roms

As for your video, get a radeon 7500 pci.
(Gf2 mx400 is also a good one, but I haven’t had much luck with them) other options: pci radeon 9250, 9200, 9100, 7000. But the 7500 is faster than those 9 series cards)

That’s probably about as fast as you’ll ever make that system if you do that 😀

Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-03-25, 05:09:

VX compatible SDRAM is also hard to find...

Any tips on what internal chip configurations to try?

I had good luck with these on a tx mobo

@Repo Man11

Thank you so much for linking to that ebay listing! The motherboard already has the extra SDRAM installed. https://imgur.com/a/zrDcOUl is two images comparing mine and the eBay listing. I bought the one on eBay so I don't have to worry about soldering it myself. I will probably do it for fun anyway (just to see if I can)

@Sphere478 I installed a 128MB Stick I had and only 48Mb showed up in the BIOS. In the manual for the PC it says that it has 16mb onboard and up to 32mb can be installed. Running memtest works great though, the extra 96mb just seems to be ignored?

PCI Graphics Cards are so expensive these days. I found a GeForce MX4000 for $60 haven't tried it out yet. Everything else nVidia/ATI/Vodoo is 200+

That BIOS modification thread is really exciting. I am limited to 8GB as well, so will have to look into that.

I don't know what 'lift the pin' even means yet. I have a lot to learn when it comes to making physical changes to the motherboard 😀

You actually need 2x 256mb low density SDRAM modules to get the full 128mb useable as a 128mb stick will only be seen as 32mb by a vx chipset.

I am told however that this can cause memory errors due to the chipset needing to poll/refresh the whole shebang
I didn’t encounter this issue but worth noting

Easiest and safest upgrade is 2x 32mb dimms as they are the easiest to find in low density.
Double sided, 32chip low density 64mb sdram is extremely rare and normal 64mb dimms won’t work.

Otherwise I have successfully mixed EDO dimms with sdram, those should be much easier to use in 64mb/128mb sizes and unlike sdram they are always compatible

duboisea wrote on 2022-03-25, 14:23:

@Repo Man11 […]
Show full quote

@Repo Man11

Thank you so much for linking to that ebay listing! The motherboard already has the extra SDRAM installed. https://imgur.com/a/zrDcOUl is two images comparing mine and the eBay listing. I bought the one on eBay so I don't have to worry about soldering it myself. I will probably do it for fun anyway (just to see if I can)

@Sphere478 I installed a 128MB Stick I had and only 48Mb showed up in the BIOS. In the manual for the PC it says that it has 16mb onboard and up to 32mb can be installed. Running memtest works great though, the extra 96mb just seems to be ignored?

PCI Graphics Cards are so expensive these days. I found a GeForce MX4000 for $60 haven't tried it out yet. Everything else nVidia/ATI/Vodoo is 200+

That BIOS modification thread is really exciting. I am limited to 8GB as well, so will have to look into that.

I don't know what 'lift the pin' even means yet. I have a lot to learn when it comes to making physical changes to the motherboard 😀

Keep trying different sticks, the chips are arranged differently internally

Example:
Some may be 2x6 others 4x4 or 6x2 (these are just random numbers, but you get my point, the guts of the chips can be different and these old mobos are picky about that.

Well, if the motherboard truly does not support more than 32mb upgrade module, then that is dissapointing, but I suspect that it’s only that at the time they wrote the manual that was the largest on the market.

Like I said, I got 256mb working on a single stick on my 430tx mobo which was a chipset released right around yours.

That chipset should support 128mb total.

So if all you get to work is 32mb onboard and 32mb on a stick then 64 mb is all you’ll get.

You could try a 64mb stick. Go for 96mb.

I’d find it odd though if you can’t find a specific ram stick that it likes for 128mb on one stick. Because that’s how it all worked out on my tx.

Anyway, lifting the leg.

Get a sewing needle, and a friend to help, find the leg in question, put some flux on the pad, put the needle under it, and have your friend poke the pad with the iron to melt it, then lift that leg up so it no longer connects to the pad.

Or find the resistor that is pulling that pin high or low and pull that resistor.

It’s easy once you understand it and have the right tools.

Outside looking in can be daunting.

At least you’ll have a parts mobo now!

Get a hot air station and gel flux

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333163967067?hash=it … a8AAOSw-mRhgWbB
Radeon 7500^
I haven’t tried this specific model though. I have the short green one. But it works like a charm in all my mobos from this era.

rmay635703 wrote on 2022-03-25, 14:37:

You actually need 2x 256mb low density SDRAM modules to get the full 128mb useable as a 128mb stick will only be seen as 32mb by […]
Show full quote

You actually need 2x 256mb low density SDRAM modules to get the full 128mb useable as a 128mb stick will only be seen as 32mb by a vx chipset.

I am told however that this can cause memory errors due to the chipset needing to poll/refresh the whole shebang
I didn’t encounter this issue but worth noting

Easiest and safest upgrade is 2x 32mb dimms as they are the easiest to find in low density.
Double sided, 32chip low density 64mb sdram is extremely rare and normal 64mb dimms won’t work.

Otherwise I have successfully mixed EDO dimms with sdram, those should be much easier to use in 64mb/128mb sizes and unlike sdram they are always compatible

OP only has one slot.

Good idea about the 32 chip sticks.
But like you said, Idk if I’ve ever seen a 128mb 32chip stick….

I wish I had a vx mobo so that I could try some sticks and tell OP which ones worked.

Can any of you guys pull out a vx mobo and run your sticks through it and record results?

It’s worth noting Intel VX boards only support true low density SDRAM as they are the very first SDRAM chipset from Intel

This means a VX compatible 64mb SDRAM module should have 32 chips,
how often do you see that?

EDO dimm is likely best in this circumstance because it is always low density

As I have stated in the past I have used 256mb modules in VX boards and they see 64mb worth of the stick
I have been told by others this could cause instability

Probably best to accept 48-80mb of ram as the max that can be used here

rmay635703 wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:02:

It’s worth noting Intel VX boards only support true low density SDRAM as they are the very first SDRAM chipset from Intel […]
Show full quote

It’s worth noting Intel VX boards only support true low density SDRAM as they are the very first SDRAM chipset from Intel

This means a VX compatible 64mb SDRAM module should have 32 chips,
how often do you see that?

EDO dimm is likely best in this circumstance because it is always low density

As I have stated in the past I have used 256mb modules in VX boards and they see 64mb worth of the stick
I have been told by others this could cause instability

Probably best to accept 48-80mb of ram as the max that can be used here

Looks like edo sdram isn’t too hard to find in 128mb… 🤔

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224818510828?hash=it … m0AAOSwKzdh-T5R

If this works though, that will be two reasons to uninstall the mobo ram, one: more than 128mb and you’ll get errors, two: two different types of ram… I’ve heard of people making it work, but I never have been able to make it work quite right myself.

I encountered much of the same problems on the tx mobo until I found the right sticks. I’d have it detecting 64mb of a 256mb stick on it as well. But once I found the right chips (see pic above) one stick was able to max out the 256mb.

Idk if this is the case on a vx though, I’ll defer to you guys. I don’t have a vx.

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:06:

rmay635703 wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:02:

It’s worth noting Intel VX boards only support true low density SDRAM as they are the very first SDRAM chipset from Intel […]
Show full quote

It’s worth noting Intel VX boards only support true low density SDRAM as they are the very first SDRAM chipset from Intel

This means a VX compatible 64mb SDRAM module should have 32 chips,
how often do you see that?

EDO dimm is likely best in this circumstance because it is always low density

As I have stated in the past I have used 256mb modules in VX boards and they see 64mb worth of the stick
I have been told by others this could cause instability

Probably best to accept 48-80mb of ram as the max that can be used here

Looks like edo sdram isn’t too hard to find in 128mb… 🤔

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224818510828?hash=it … m0AAOSwKzdh-T5R

Would need to test what the board does when 144mb is installed, some handle it gracefully masking off the excess
(I had an IBM 286 w/20mb of RAM it detected it but you couldn’t use the excess) ,
others will crash when certain ram locations get accessed

From the old Wim's BIOS page:

"The Intel VX doesn't have enough Memory Address lines to drive the higher integration DRAM technology, be it EDO or SDRAM. 16-MBit is the highest density supported, while the parts on a 64-MByte EDO SIMM are 64-MBit (eight chips)

Do the math - count the SDRAM chips on your DIMM (the large ones) [if they're ECC DIMMs, round down to the nearest power of two], and compute:

((total capacity in MByte)*8)/(number of chips)

The result is the density in MBit of the SDRAM components used.

Examples:

32-MByte DIMM with 16 chips: 32*8/16=16, usable with Intel VX.

128-MByte ECC DIMM with 18 chips - round down to 16, 128*8/16 = 64, not usable on VX.

As current production is 64- or 128-MBit densities, the bottom line of all this is that SDRAM support in Intel VX is useless with today's DIMMs.

Also, in order to have your board recognize 32Mb per DIMM, you'll need the 16-chip versions. If you have the 8-chip version, only 8Mb (your case) will be recognized.

Remember, it's not a memory problem; it's a chipset limitation. And no, this can't be fixed by a BIOS update."

https://web.archive.org/web/20060204005423/ht … w.wimsbios.com/

This page has the specs for your Compaq, and it says the RAM is upgradeable to 48 megabytes. That isn't a chipset limitation, so it may be that the BIOS cannot display RAM above that amount - I'd check in Windows.

https://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/archive/compaq … quickspecs.html

Does the board work with nothing installed in the memory slot? I was assuming that the memory chips on the board were all for the onboard video, but this board may also have system memory chips on it (or they may be shared with the onboard video); a quick way to know for sure is if it will work with nothing in the DIMM slot.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:16:

This page has the specs for your Compaq, and it says the RAM is upgradeable to 48 megabytes. That isn't a chipset limitation, so it may be that the BIOS cannot display RAM above that amount - I'd check in Windows.

https://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/archive/compaq … quickspecs.html

It’s very very unlikely his Compaq won’t see a proper 32chip 64mb module

The reasons for not listing compatible 64mb
Sdram is that

1. 64mb was theoretical and not on market until later (aka didn’t exist)
2. 64mb was $5000 at release
3. Some 64mb modules ran hot and unstable, many have forgotten that memory compatibility and stability stank in the 1993-1996 era

Systems like this are why it’s unfortunate a PCI memory expansion device doesn’t exist, it would bypass memory controller limits and in a vx or lower system would be nearly identical in speed to onboard EDO memory if you used very fast ram to keep latency near the theoretical pci speed limits

Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:24:

Does the board work with nothing installed in the memory slot? I was assuming that the memory chips on the board were all for the onboard video, but this board may also have system memory chips on it (or they may be shared wit hthe onboard video); a quick way to know for sure is if it will work with nothing in the SIMM slot.

Yes it works without memory installed. It boots and reports 16mb

rmay635703 wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:30:

It’s very very unlikely his Compaq won’t see a proper 32chip 64mb module […]
Show full quote

Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:16:

This page has the specs for your Compaq, and it says the RAM is upgradeable to 48 megabytes. That isn't a chipset limitation, so it may be that the BIOS cannot display RAM above that amount - I'd check in Windows.

https://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/archive/compaq … quickspecs.html

It’s very very unlikely his Compaq won’t see a proper 32chip 64mb module

The reasons for not listing compatible 64mb
Sdram is that

1. 64mb was theoretical and not on market until later (aka didn’t exist)
2. 64mb was $5000 at release
3. Some 64mb modules ran hot and unstable, many have forgotten that memory compatibility and quality stank in the 1993-1996 era

I'm now thinking that the board has 16 megabytes installed so those plus a 32 megabyte DIMM = 48.

@Repo Man11 Yes I believe it has 16 megabytes installed, and the one from eBay has 32mb.

I believe I can get up to 64mb from this page https://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/archive/compaq … quickspecs.html we will see when it arrives!

Yep, it seems you will definitely be able to get 64 🤣. (New board plus 32mb stick)

Wasn’t there such a thing as a sdram stacker?

Put more sticks in one slot?

Edit: looky what I found
https://www.ebay.com/itm/301728666498

Next thing
Has anyone checked if this board takes 5 volt memory?
Some boards were hard wired one way or the other, some were switchable

I’ve run 3.3 volt in a 5 volt board but never the other way

(Old stuff like this you actually need to check stupid things like voltage)

rmay635703 wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:30:

It’s very very unlikely his Compaq won’t see a proper 32chip 64mb module […]
Show full quote

Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-03-25, 15:16:

This page has the specs for your Compaq, and it says the RAM is upgradeable to 48 megabytes. That isn't a chipset limitation, so it may be that the BIOS cannot display RAM above that amount - I'd check in Windows.

https://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/archive/compaq … quickspecs.html

It’s very very unlikely his Compaq won’t see a proper 32chip 64mb module

The reasons for not listing compatible 64mb
Sdram is that

1. 64mb was theoretical and not on market until later (aka didn’t exist)
2. 64mb was $5000 at release
3. Some 64mb modules ran hot and unstable, many have forgotten that memory compatibility and stability stank in the 1993-1996 era

Systems like this are why it’s unfortunate a PCI memory expansion device doesn’t exist, it would bypass memory controller limits and in a vx or lower system would be nearly identical in speed to onboard EDO memory if you used very fast ram to keep latency near the theoretical pci speed limits

Valid points. In 1995 I was still five years away from having my own computer, so I wasn't paying any attention to this sort of thing at the time. The only VX chipset motherboard I've ever used only had SIMM slots, thus avoiding any complications of what sort and how much DIMM memory could be used.