janoosh wrote on 2023-10-20, 18:10:

So couple of questions to finish this long post off: 1. I still have one PCI and one ISA slots available (2x ISA if I don't use […]
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So couple of questions to finish this long post off:
1. I still have one PCI and one ISA slots available (2x ISA if I don't use that PCI). Are there any expansion cards which would compliment this already weird build well? I was thinking about getting a USB 2.0 card to speed up file transfers, as someone earlier in this thread suggested, but if I get network going I don't think I will need one.
2. I'm thinking about getting an L2 cache upgrade as well. From what I know, upgrading from 256k to 512k should not really be a noticeable improvement, so mostly I want to do it just for fun. The manual for this board says the following:
>WARNING: If the cache module that you install already have an extended tag, do
>not install another TAG SRAM into the TAG SRAM Upgrade Socket.
Is there a way to tell if a cache module has an extended TAG on it? On local auction sites I can find a couple of these modules, but at most they are described as 256k cache module, so no details about TAG. Don't want to buy one blindly and accidentally damage my board that way, if it's even possible.

I also have one 5.25 inch bay free, but I think I can figure something interesting to put in there myself. Sorry for a long post, I had to gather my thoughts about this whole process somewhere.

1 - A DXR2 mpeg decoder card maybe? Assuming you can also get a DVD drive : https://www.ebay.com/itm/325639929169 . With that you can play your old DVD movies.
You do need another VGA pass-through cable like on the voodoo.

You need to convert the CPU back to Standard Pentium 166 or 200 which are correct for your board and is single voltage plane. I suggest SL24Q which is unlocked multiplier for pentium 200. Good to 133, 166 and 200. The board does not have split plane at this moment. But the board is very good board.

Dos stuff works well with 133MHz or 166MHz and avoids divide by zero errors.

Keep memory at 64MB maximum as most DOS stuff do fine with 32MB as well. And are cachable range and less issues.

It is my nighttime now, gonna sleep but I'll come back and verify what I have for Pentium 200 stepping spec that is unlocked.

Cheers,

Sorry for a late reply – was away from my PC for couple of days.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-10-20, 19:52:

I'm curious to know if the USB ports on this board are fully functional? I know they work with the later revisions that supported dual plane voltage CPUs.

They seem to be fully functional indeed – in Windows 98 at least. I use a wireless USB mouse connected to one of them, a Logitech M220, as I do not have a proper PS/2 or serial mouse yet. Second one I use for file transfers, terribly slow, but works until I setup networking. Beats using the CD drive, which does not like my go-to Verbatim CD-Rs.

Rav wrote on 2023-10-21, 00:37:

1 - A DXR2 mpeg decoder card maybe?

That's a neat idea. Heard about those cards back in the day, never had a chance to use one though. I was actually thinking about replacing my CD drive with a newer DVD one, as all my IDE CD drives are either dead or very picky about reading my burned CD-Rs. Would be cool to watch a DVD movie on this machine.

@pentiumspeed – Thanks for advice. I actually am on the lookout on local auction sites for either a reasonably priced single voltage CPU for this particular board or a later revision of this board which would work properly with my MMX. SL24Q seems like a good choice! Unfortunately here in Poland it seems it's quite hard to find a non-MMX Pentiums for some reason. As for the memory, I haven't run into any issues in DOS yet – although I haven't dabbled with DOS stuff a lot, mostly just testing some games. If I run into any I will keep your post in mind.