Dvd decoding isn’t light work for a cpu of that era. A mpeg decoding card may be useful and accompanying software.

It may be able to play them though.

I was once stubborn enough to shoehorn windows 7 onto a system like this and it did work, but it was pretty much useless.

After trying and trying to make it faster and faster I finally gave up on windows xp for socket 7 I mean it does work, don’t get me wrong. It is just slower.

If you insist on xp though. Do RTM not sp1,2,3 each service pack makes it a little slower. Sp 1 and 2 weren’t that bad but 3 really slowed it down

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:00:

Dvd decoding isn’t light work for a cpu of that era. A mpeg decoding card may be useful and accompanying software.

It may be able to play them though.

I guess you are right, I'll just see once i try. Also on the topic of cpu, since you seem to know a lot about the Amd k6-2 is it really safe to overclock the cpu as far as I've dont it? It's running at 600 mhz right now with the 2x multiplier, I dont know how good the temperatures are and for some reason I can't see them with HWMonitor.

I've used plenty of K6+ systems to play DVDs with no issues; my Asus TXP4 with a K6-2+ 533 (@500 MHz) & Win98 can do it with no issues using Power DVD XP. There's a very good chance that the onboard video would be good enough for DVD playback.

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:07:

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:00:

Dvd decoding isn’t light work for a cpu of that era. A mpeg decoding card may be useful and accompanying software.

It may be able to play them though.

I guess you are right, I'll just see once i try. Also on the topic of cpu, since you seem to know a lot about the Amd k6-2 is it really safe to overclock the cpu as far as I've dont it? It's running at 600 mhz right now with the 2x multiplier, I dont know how good the temperatures are and for some reason I can't see them with HWMonitor.

What is the rated speed of this CPU?

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:14:

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:07:

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:00:

Dvd decoding isn’t light work for a cpu of that era. A mpeg decoding card may be useful and accompanying software.

It may be able to play them though.

I guess you are right, I'll just see once i try. Also on the topic of cpu, since you seem to know a lot about the Amd k6-2 is it really safe to overclock the cpu as far as I've dont it? It's running at 600 mhz right now with the 2x multiplier, I dont know how good the temperatures are and for some reason I can't see them with HWMonitor.

What is the rated speed of this CPU?

500 mhz with 2.0 volt. I'm running it at 600 mhz with 2.2 volt. (2.2 volt because my motherboard won't go lower).

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:19:

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:14:

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:07:

I guess you are right, I'll just see once i try. Also on the topic of cpu, since you seem to know a lot about the Amd k6-2 is it really safe to overclock the cpu as far as I've dont it? It's running at 600 mhz right now with the 2x multiplier, I dont know how good the temperatures are and for some reason I can't see them with HWMonitor.

What is the rated speed of this CPU?

500 mhz with 2.0 volt. I'm running it at 600 mhz with 2.2 volt. (2.2 volt because my motherboard won't go lower).

That should be no issue at all. Any decent Socket 7 CPU heatsink should be fine. If you're worried about the temperature, Motherboard Monitor will probably work fine with that motherboard.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:33:

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:19:

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:14:

What is the rated speed of this CPU?

500 mhz with 2.0 volt. I'm running it at 600 mhz with 2.2 volt. (2.2 volt because my motherboard won't go lower).

That should be no issue at all. Any decent Socket 7 CPU heatsink should be fine. If you're worried about the temperature, Motherboard Monitor will probably work fine with that motherboard.

It's a pretty small cpu cooler but I did remove the old thermal paste and applied new one.

The P5M4-M+ is posted on theretroweb:
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/tekram-p5m4-m-2

Reading part numbers on the photo is borderline, but it looks like the voltage regulator chip (upper right corner of the picture) is an LM2637M.
Is that the same chip you have on your board? If so, you should be able to set voltages down to 1.3V using other settings that the motherboard documentation just doesn't mention.
If you have a different regulator chip then it might have different limitations (1.8V is another common minimum).

This is from the LM2637 datasheet:

Match that chart up with the documented jumper settings on your motherboard. Double check to make sure everything lines up and you know how each of the jumpers corresponds to that chart. Once you're sure you have that figured out, you can use it to set other voltages.
This also explains why removing all the jumpers didn't work (it appears this would be '11111' in the chart, which produces no output).

2.0V is gentler on the chip and will make less heat, but 2.2V is probably fine and might make a difference in how fast it can run.
My K6-3+ runs very well at 1.8V - I didn't see any benefit to setting it higher, but it was a 1.6V rated chip from factory. I don't know if the 2.0V rated chips actually behave any differently - yours might be happy at a low voltage like 1.8V also.

Socket-7 boards can set a wide range of voltages (typically going up to 3.3 or 3.5V) and this can be dangerous. If you have any doubts, then it's safer to mess with the jumpers while no CPU is installed and measuring the resulting voltage with a multimeter, or if you're not able to do that then by using a cheap CPU that you won't care as much about damaging if you make a mistake.

shamino wrote on 2023-07-27, 16:10:

The P5M4-M+ is posted on theretroweb: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/tekram-p5m4-m-2 […]
Show full quote

The P5M4-M+ is posted on theretroweb:
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/tekram-p5m4-m-2

Reading part numbers on the photo is borderline, but it looks like the voltage regulator chip (upper right corner of the picture) is an LM2637M.
Is that the same chip you have on your board? If so, you should be able to set voltages down to 1.3V using other settings that the motherboard documentation just doesn't mention.
If you have a different regulator chip then it might have different limitations (1.8V is another common minimum).

This is from the LM2637 datasheet:
LM2637 voltage settings.png

Match that chart up with the documented jumper settings on your motherboard. Double check to make sure everything lines up and you know how each of the jumpers corresponds to that chart. Once you're sure you have that figured out, you can use it to set other voltages.
This also explains why removing all the jumpers didn't work (it appears this would be '11111' in the chart, which produces no output).

2.0V is gentler on the chip and will make less heat, but 2.2V is probably fine and might make a difference in how fast it can run. Also yes the voltage regulator chip is a LM2637M.
My K6-3+ runs very well at 1.8V - I didn't see any benefit to setting it higher, but it was a 1.6V rated chip from factory. I don't know if the 2.0V rated chips actually behave any differently - yours might be happy at a low voltage like 1.8V also.

Socket-7 boards can set a wide range of voltages (typically going up to 3.3 or 3.5V) and this can be dangerous. If you have any doubts, then it's safer to mess with the jumpers while no CPU is installed and measuring the resulting voltage with a multimeter, or if you're not able to do that then by using a cheap CPU that you won't care as much about damaging if you make a mistake.

I might try doing that, although the cpu doesnt seem to mind running at 2.2 volt. I sadly don't have any cpus im willing to risk getting damaged if i make a mistake.

Also yes the voltage regulator chip is a LM2637M.

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:07:

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:00:

Dvd decoding isn’t light work for a cpu of that era. A mpeg decoding card may be useful and accompanying software.

It may be able to play them though.

I guess you are right, I'll just see once i try. Also on the topic of cpu, since you seem to know a lot about the Amd k6-2 is it really safe to overclock the cpu as far as I've dont it? It's running at 600 mhz right now with the 2x multiplier, I dont know how good the temperatures are and for some reason I can't see them with HWMonitor.

The cpu doesn’t have an internal temp sensor

Some motherboards of the time had one on the socket.

You can overclock it as much as you like, so long as you keep the voltage low and keep it cool. 600mhz 2.2v is pretty run of the mill. Nothing special there. I would not raise the voltage anymore though unless you like to live dangerously. In theory you could probably go up to 2.4v in a crazy oc attempt. But I get the impression you want something stable that will last. 2.2v 600mhz should do fine on many plus cpus

Just stick with 2.2v

It is common for many regulators to go to 1.3v when all jumps are removed. In which case, usually the first jump will give 2.1v or 2.2v that is close enough.

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-07-27, 16:29:

The cpu doesn’t have an internal temp sensor […]
Show full quote

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:07:

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:00:

Dvd decoding isn’t light work for a cpu of that era. A mpeg decoding card may be useful and accompanying software.

It may be able to play them though.

I guess you are right, I'll just see once i try. Also on the topic of cpu, since you seem to know a lot about the Amd k6-2 is it really safe to overclock the cpu as far as I've dont it? It's running at 600 mhz right now with the 2x multiplier, I dont know how good the temperatures are and for some reason I can't see them with HWMonitor.

The cpu doesn’t have an internal temp sensor

Some motherboards of the time had one on the socket.

You can overclock it as much as you like, so long as you keep the voltage low and keep it cool. 600mhz 2.2c is pretty run of the mill. Nothing special there. I would not raise the voltage anymore though unless you like to live dangerously. In theory you could probably go up to 2.4v in a crazy oc attempt. But I get the impression you want something stable that will last. 2.2v 600mhz should do fine on many plus cpus

Alright. Then I'll stay on 600 mhz, thanks for the info 👍

Well since my issues been resolved i guess this post is now finished. Thanks for the help everyone 😀

No prob glad it is working!

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 14:27:

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-07-27, 14:06:

Another computer working thanks to one of Jan's excellent patched BIOS! When I first set up my Asus P55T2P4 with a K6-2+ in 2001, it worked well enough with the original BIOS (It was stable and had no issue with POSTing with the Asus BIOS), but then I discovered Jan's page and updated it to a BIOS that he had patched to support the plus series K6-2. I appreciated having the correct CPU identification, but the more important part (which I didn't fully appreciate at the time) was that it enabled write allocate with the plus series CPUs.

Yeah i really appreciate Jan's patched bios, does he accept donations? Also thanks for providing me with the links to the websites 👍

I don't know if he does or not - you could send him an email to find out. J.Steunebrink@net.HCC.nl

shamino wrote on 2023-07-27, 16:10:

The P5M4-M+ is posted on theretroweb:
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/tekram-p5m4-m-2

I looked at the pdf manual there earlier.
The voltage jumpering is a bit primitive. It seem like it starts with 2,0V as a baseline. Then the four jumpers allow for adding 0,1V / 0,2V / 0,4V / 0,8V. Or combinations of these four values. Adding all four makes 2 + 0,1 + 0,2 + 0,4 + 0,8 = 3,5V.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-07-27, 17:02:

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 14:27:

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-07-27, 14:06:

Another computer working thanks to one of Jan's excellent patched BIOS! When I first set up my Asus P55T2P4 with a K6-2+ in 2001, it worked well enough with the original BIOS (It was stable and had no issue with POSTing with the Asus BIOS), but then I discovered Jan's page and updated it to a BIOS that he had patched to support the plus series K6-2. I appreciated having the correct CPU identification, but the more important part (which I didn't fully appreciate at the time) was that it enabled write allocate with the plus series CPUs.

Yeah i really appreciate Jan's patched bios, does he accept donations? Also thanks for providing me with the links to the websites 👍

I don't know if he does or not - you could send him an email to find out. J.Steunebrink@net.HCC.nl

He is user Chkcpu on vogons also. Fyi.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-07-27, 17:02:

Florian J wrote on 2023-07-27, 14:27:

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-07-27, 14:06:

Another computer working thanks to one of Jan's excellent patched BIOS! When I first set up my Asus P55T2P4 with a K6-2+ in 2001, it worked well enough with the original BIOS (It was stable and had no issue with POSTing with the Asus BIOS), but then I discovered Jan's page and updated it to a BIOS that he had patched to support the plus series K6-2. I appreciated having the correct CPU identification, but the more important part (which I didn't fully appreciate at the time) was that it enabled write allocate with the plus series CPUs.

Yeah i really appreciate Jan's patched bios, does he accept donations? Also thanks for providing me with the links to the websites 👍

I don't know if he does or not - you could send him an email to find out. J.Steunebrink@net.HCC.nl

Will do, thanks.

Also I sadly realised that I only have a Windows xp installation cd, so i dont really have a choice for which operating system to install.

gerwin wrote on 2023-07-27, 17:07:

shamino wrote on 2023-07-27, 16:10:

The P5M4-M+ is posted on theretroweb:
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/tekram-p5m4-m-2

I looked at the pdf manual there earlier.
The voltage jumpering is a bit primitive. It seem like it starts with 2,0V as a baseline. Then the four jumpers allow for adding 0,1V / 0,2V / 0,4V / 0,8V. Or combinations of these four values. Adding all four makes 2 + 0,1 + 0,2 + 0,4 + 0,8 = 3,5V.

The regulator is made to be compatible with the 5-bit VID setting that is provided by later Intel P2/P3 CPUs. It covers the range from 1.3-3.5V. The jumpers just make that setting manual, since socket-7 CPUs don't have pins for automatic VID.

The way Intel defined the VID values, there is an odd shift in the scheme that happens at 2.0V or 2.05V, so the pattern changes when going above or below that value. There's actually some overlap - there's 2 ways to declare 2.0V but some regulators only allow 1 of them (including this LM2637 - that's why it went to no output with all jumpers removed).
On my super-7, I use a red jumper cap for the high order VID jumper. It serves as a reminder to not move it. This ensures the voltage can't go any higher than 2.05V.

In the picture it looked like there are 5 jumpers. If there are only 4, then it means the high order bit is soldered, so then the minimum will be 2.0V. But if all 5 jumpers are present then it can go below 2.0V.
On my board (different brand/model), early revisions only had 4 jumpers but later revisions added the 5th.