I didn't know anyone ever made an AT 440BX. Impressive!

weedeewee wrote on 2024-03-19, 22:04:

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board. […]
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ubiq wrote on 2024-03-19, 19:44:

Hmm...

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board.

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6via85p

duh.

Well, only the VIA southbridge version is represented there ...

ubiq wrote on 2024-03-20, 03:25:

Yeah, I know what I got. 😉 IMG_0875.jpeg […]
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weedeewee wrote on 2024-03-19, 22:04:

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board. […]
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ubiq wrote on 2024-03-19, 19:44:

Hmm...

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board.

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6via85p

duh.

Yeah, I know what I got. 😉
IMG_0875.jpeg

Now, is either of these worth replacing the Gigabyte GA-6BA I'm currently using... 🤔

So based on the labels, the "6VIA/ZX85" text in the silk screen of the board is because the same raw PCB is used for 2 different end products?

Are they both VIA Northbridge?

And no, if it's not a BX, it's not worth replacing a BX board for it 🤣

ubiq wrote on 2024-03-20, 03:25:

Yeah, I know what I got. 😉 IMG_0875.jpeg […]
Show full quote

weedeewee wrote on 2024-03-19, 22:04:

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board. […]
Show full quote

ubiq wrote on 2024-03-19, 19:44:

Hmm...

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board.

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6via85p

duh.

Yeah, I know what I got. 😉
IMG_0875.jpeg

Now, is either of these worth replacing the Gigabyte GA-6BA I'm currently using... 🤔

they already have the photos, so no need for the photos. as I already mentioned in the comment I made.

H3nrik V! wrote on 2024-03-20, 06:19:

weedeewee wrote on 2024-03-19, 22:04:

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board. […]
Show full quote

ubiq wrote on 2024-03-19, 19:44:

Hmm...

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board.

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6via85p

duh.

Well, only the VIA southbridge version is represented there ...

Nexxen had posted the link to the intel version, but for some reason removed it.
added again here https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6zx85

weedeewee wrote on 2024-03-20, 16:54:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2024-03-20, 06:19:

weedeewee wrote on 2024-03-19, 22:04:

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board. […]
Show full quote

theretroweb will be interested in photos & bios for that via board.

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6via85p

duh.

Well, only the VIA southbridge version is represented there ...

Nexxen had posted the link to the intel version, but for some reason removed it.
added again here https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6zx85

Well, I thought it was irrelevant at this point as everything was sorted.
Still, I'm not surprised there are different SB versions as those cheap manufacturers just grabbed whatever.

My next question is if there are known interchangeable SB chips.
IMO TRW has the room for even further development by adding a "repairability"grade and lists of components with updated substitutes (like mosfets, SIOs...). But would need an impressive amount of footwork and specialized human resources.

Nexxen wrote on 2024-03-20, 17:17:

Well, I thought it was irrelevant at this point as everything was sorted. Still, I'm not surprised there are different SB versio […]
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weedeewee wrote on 2024-03-20, 16:54:

H3nrik V! wrote on 2024-03-20, 06:19:

Well, only the VIA southbridge version is represented there ...

Nexxen had posted the link to the intel version, but for some reason removed it.
added again here https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6zx85

Well, I thought it was irrelevant at this point as everything was sorted.
Still, I'm not surprised there are different SB versions as those cheap manufacturers just grabbed whatever.

My next question is if there are known interchangeable SB chips.
IMO TRW has the room for even further development by adding a "repairability"grade and lists of components with updated substitutes (like mosfets, SIOs...). But would need an impressive amount of footwork and specialized human resources.

andrea wrote on 2024-03-19, 19:55:

ubiq wrote on 2024-03-19, 19:44:

Hmm...

I remember reading somewhere that the Apollo 693A/596B are supposed to be pin compatible with the 440BX (or ZX, same thing really)/PIIX4, so that vendors could use the same design for both solutions changing only the bios.

honestly I had no idea, and since you posted the link to the intel board, and later removed it... 😒 I just had to look if trw had the via board or not, and while I totally overlooked it at first glance, and made the comment which two people jumped on several hours after I had already modified it to mention the link to the via board on trw, not noticing the strike through? I just had to add the link you originally posted.

So to clarify.
both boards are on TRW,

intel : https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6zx85
via : https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/acorp-6via85p

no additional photos seem necessary.

Some of the parts I ordered for a couple retro projects and repairs showed up today. More on the way!

Those awesome 10MHz Z80's are for a couple more Z80-MBC2 builds You can check out my first build over on my blog, linked in my signature. 😀

The KB/M PS2 ports are for repairs. Need to replace one on one of my boards and wanted a spare on hand, never know when you're going to need one.

sniped a SC8850

Paid way too much for this sickly 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 PCI. The seller listed it "AS-IS" and even mentioned that they had problems with the DVI output and that it would sometimes appear "pink". I also noticed some damage on one of the inductors in the photos, but decided to chance it, since I expected the listing to sell below the average market price.

When I plugged it in, the system would beep on startup like nothing was connected. This is pretty common, due to the age of this equipment, and a few power cycles reformed the capacitors and brought it back to life. However, there was no picture. This is a Mac card, after all, and the seller indicated in the listing that it was pulled from a Mac. So I tried flashing a PC BIOS and... It works!

Everything tested fine in Windows with both the VGA and DVI port. I had no problem syncing with my LCD and didn't have any color issues that the seller had described. Maybe he had a bad cable? I've only ever seen a color shift on a loose VGA cable, never on a DVI cable.

The fans are super crunchy and there are a few missing surface mount capacitors that have been knocked off, but overall I am very happy. The price of these cards is starting to become ridiculous, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy one while I could still afford it. The Voodoo 5 6000 is surely unobtanium for my collection now as it is.

I stopped by my local computer store today and they had an PNY Quadro FX 4000 AGP for $10.00; I couldn't pass it up. It works fine, but when I looked at the old reviews on Newegg there were warnings that there might be weirdness with some games since it wasn't really meant for that. It ran 3D 2001 and 2003 with no problems, giving scores very close to my 6800 in the same system. But, when I fired up Half-Life Source, the water is crystal clear! It made it far too easy to shoot the ichthyosaur. I guess I need to flash it to a 6800 BIOS? I tested it in another system, and the same game had the exact same issue. It looks very nearly identical to my 6800.

Edit: It does the same thing with the water in Half-Life 2. It's fine when you're in it (the water) but when you look at the canal it appears to be empty.

The most convenient system for me to test this was my Soyo K7V running Win XP and an XP2100+ @ 2,150 MHz. Running HL2 at 1024x768 with the detail settings turned down, it still dipped pretty low on the frame rate. That's an experience that I'm glad to leave in the past, that game is too much for this computer for my taste.

Today I installed the NVstrap driver in RivaTuner and changed the ID to GeForce. I had to force install the driver as a 6800 Ultra, and now the water in HL2 looks as it should.

Kahenraz wrote on 2024-03-21, 21:51:

Paid way too much for this sickly 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 PCI. The seller listed it "AS-IS" and even mentioned that they had problems with the DVI output and that it would sometimes appear "pink". I also noticed some damage on one of the inductors in the photos, but decided to chance it, since I expected the listing to sell below the average market price.

When I plugged it in, the system would beep on startup like nothing was connected. This is pretty common, due to the age of this equipment, and a few power cycles reformed the capacitors and brought it back to life. However, there was no picture. This is a Mac card, after all, and the seller indicated in the listing that it was pulled from a Mac. So I tried flashing a PC BIOS and... It works!

Everything tested fine in Windows with both the VGA and DVI port. I had no problem syncing with my LCD and didn't have any color issues that the seller had described. Maybe he had a bad cable? I've only ever seen a color shift on a loose VGA cable, never on a DVI cable.

Great ! I do not think the missing corner on the inductor will hurt it much. Good job !

Kahenraz wrote on 2024-03-20, 03:28:

I didn't know anyone ever made an AT 440BX. Impressive!

asus p2b-b and p2-99b were quite popular.

Massive card, not full length but it is heavy. It could use some anti sagging clips.

WiNRADiO WR-1000i

schlang wrote on 2024-03-21, 20:01:

sniped a SC8850

Nice!
It's unfortunate that the backwards compatibility (sc-88/55 sound map) is a little broken on these units but otherwise they sound good.

PD2JK wrote on 2024-03-22, 15:30:

Massive card, not full length but it is heavy. It could use some anti sagging clips.

DSC_8480.JPG

WiNRADiO WR-1000i

Heh, I thought "That better not be just an FM card" then zoomed in to see it's actually rather decent frequency coverage. Looks like fun, like earlier incarnation of those SDR dongles you can buy for USB. Yah, I'd probably buy one too if it was in front of me, not sure I'd hunt one out though unless I got a project in mind.

Do you know what software you can use with it, or are you stuck with some ancient weather sat decoders for DOS or using GNUradio in linux?

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-03-22, 17:33:

PD2JK wrote on 2024-03-22, 15:30:

Massive card, not full length but it is heavy. It could use some anti sagging clips.

DSC_8480.JPG

WiNRADiO WR-1000i

Heh, I thought "That better not be just an FM card" then zoomed in to see it's actually rather decent frequency coverage. Looks like fun, like earlier incarnation of those SDR dongles you can buy for USB. Yah, I'd probably buy one too if it was in front of me, not sure I'd hunt one out though unless I got a project in mind.

Do you know what software you can use with it, or are you stuck with some ancient weather sat decoders for DOS or using GNUradio in linux?

The Winradio software should even work with Windows 7 32-bit: link.
The plan is to get it working in Windows 3.11, in a DX4 system. I'll hang a simple dipole antenna in the attic and have fair reception, wandering the bands.

PD2JK wrote on 2024-03-22, 21:37:

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-03-22, 17:33:

PD2JK wrote on 2024-03-22, 15:30:

Massive card, not full length but it is heavy. It could use some anti sagging clips.

DSC_8480.JPG

WiNRADiO WR-1000i

Heh, I thought "That better not be just an FM card" then zoomed in to see it's actually rather decent frequency coverage. Looks like fun, like earlier incarnation of those SDR dongles you can buy for USB. Yah, I'd probably buy one too if it was in front of me, not sure I'd hunt one out though unless I got a project in mind.

Do you know what software you can use with it, or are you stuck with some ancient weather sat decoders for DOS or using GNUradio in linux?

The Winradio software should even work with Windows 7 32-bit: link.
The plan is to get it working in Windows 3.11, in a DX4 system. I'll hang a simple dipole antenna in the attic and have fair reception, wandering the bands.

Are you planning on sharing the results here? In addition to games, it's interesting to see the fun things that you can do on retro computers. It's also harder to find information on some of these areas online.

So as some of you know, a couple of days ago I picked up a mystery PC on eBay and along with a couple of other users have been trying to guess what the specs will be from just a couple of pictures.

Well it still hasn't arrived yet, but I just realised that the chassis is identical to the one in the OP of The World's Fastest 486 thread.

Doesn't thicken the plot too much because we already knew it was from that era, just find it funny that I spent ages on Google images trying to find one with the same chassis, then gave up and came to casually browse Vogons and walked right into one exactly the same.

PD2JK wrote on 2024-03-22, 21:37:

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-03-22, 17:33:

PD2JK wrote on 2024-03-22, 15:30:

Massive card, not full length but it is heavy. It could use some anti sagging clips.

DSC_8480.JPG

WiNRADiO WR-1000i

Heh, I thought "That better not be just an FM card" then zoomed in to see it's actually rather decent frequency coverage. Looks like fun, like earlier incarnation of those SDR dongles you can buy for USB. Yah, I'd probably buy one too if it was in front of me, not sure I'd hunt one out though unless I got a project in mind.

Do you know what software you can use with it, or are you stuck with some ancient weather sat decoders for DOS or using GNUradio in linux?

The Winradio software should even work with Windows 7 32-bit: link.
The plan is to get it working in Windows 3.11, in a DX4 system. I'll hang a simple dipole antenna in the attic and have fair reception, wandering the bands.

Thats quite a famous card you have there made in none other than the Rosetta Laboratories right here in Australia, That card is IIRC one of the first they produce in 1996. Totally worth keeping and looking after it also still sells for quite a bit of money.

From what I can dig up this card was produced by Rosetta for Military usage so it should be extremely robust, Good solid bit of Aussie kit you have there, makes me want one now.