libby wrote on 2022-12-04, 04:35:
Found this ASRock K8Upgrade-VM800 socket 754 board in a PC about to be stripped at the recycler and grabbed it, seemed a pity to let it get shredded.
FjG1lV-WAAIyZVa.jpg
Wow, I had to look that up to jog my memory, but according to their website that odd backward-AGP slot is for a card that would house a Socket 939 CPU...?
https://www.asrock.com/mb/VIA/K8Upgrade-VM800/index.asp
I remember those boards being a super weird item back in the day. The idea now seems completely absurd. Both of those sockets were SO short-lived... it's hard to imagine the quirks and complications of that setup being at worth it to keep on that particular platform. I mean, both 754 and 939 together were only relevant from late 2003 to mid 2005 (except for the FX60 which was January 2006), with AM2 being a substantial improvement and adding DDR2 support by mid 2006.
Anyway, that's an awesome find. If you ever wanted to confuse a PC enthusiast who wasn't around back in those days, this board would certainly do it.
EDIT: OH! I just realized that they actually made an AM2 card for that slot later on!
https://www.techpowerup.com/9287/asrock-futur … ort-am2-upgrade
So, even though the website simply says "Socket 939", it can be used for other things, including adding DDR2 support. Wow! Probably almost zero chance of ever finding one of those expansion boards sadly.
Very neat find indeed. 😀