VOGONS


AMD K7 "goldfinger" cloning thread

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Reply 240 of 262, by Obijuan1983

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wiretap wrote on 2021-03-10, 22:36:
Assembly. My solder paste is a little old, but it turned out ok. […]
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Assembly. My solder paste is a little old, but it turned out ok.

nO1T6Odh.jpg

nxy6RVXh.jpg

0bdzrF6h.jpg

jvL32Qrh.jpg

Hi,is there any clone of this still available?
Thanks a lot

Reply 241 of 262, by wiretap

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Obijuan1983 wrote on 2022-07-22, 19:50:
wiretap wrote on 2021-03-10, 22:36:
Assembly. My solder paste is a little old, but it turned out ok. […]
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Assembly. My solder paste is a little old, but it turned out ok.

nO1T6Odh.jpg

nxy6RVXh.jpg

0bdzrF6h.jpg

jvL32Qrh.jpg

Hi,is there any clone of this still available?
Thanks a lot

That is the clone. The design files are available in this thread for you to make one.

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals

Reply 242 of 262, by Obijuan1983

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Ok thanks a lot

Reply 243 of 262, by Obijuan1983

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gex85 wrote on 2021-04-07, 11:31:
Wow, this has gained some traction once again. Great! Since I have a few of the non-functional Northwind PCBs lying around (and […]
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Wow, this has gained some traction once again. Great!
Since I have a few of the non-functional Northwind PCBs lying around (and one assembled), I might give your suggestions a try. But I currently don't have too much time to spare for retro activities, so it might take a few days.

But I have now calculated the cost for the Ninja Micro clones as I announced in this post: Re: Making an AMD "goldfinger" clone ?
I will be able to send out kits or assembled (and tested) units at 12,50€ each + shipping from Kiel, Germany. For assembled units, you are kindly requested to make a small donation as described in the post I linked above.
Since I will hand-solder everything, don't expect industrial-grade solder joints on the assembled units.
There are currently well over 10 kits left, so shoot me a PM if you want one.

Hello, is there any GFD left for sale? Thanks in advance!

Reply 244 of 262, by bloodem

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Obijuan1983 wrote on 2022-08-03, 06:48:

Hello, is there any GFD left for sale? Thanks in advance!

Don't think anyone still has them for sale. See wiretap's post here.
You can literally order everything you need to create your own GFD clone with just a few clicks.

1 x PLCC-68 / 2 x PGA132 / 5 x Skt 3 / 9 x Skt 7 / 12 x SS7 / 1 x Skt 8 / 14 x Slot 1 / 5 x Slot A
5 x Skt 370 / 8 x Skt A / 2 x Skt 478 / 2 x Skt 754 / 3 x Skt 939 / 7 x LGA775 / 1 x LGA1155
Current PC: Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Backup PC: Core i7 7700k

Reply 245 of 262, by TimWolf

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Obijuan1983 wrote on 2022-08-03, 06:48:
gex85 wrote on 2021-04-07, 11:31:
Wow, this has gained some traction once again. Great! Since I have a few of the non-functional Northwind PCBs lying around (and […]
Show full quote

Wow, this has gained some traction once again. Great!
Since I have a few of the non-functional Northwind PCBs lying around (and one assembled), I might give your suggestions a try. But I currently don't have too much time to spare for retro activities, so it might take a few days.

But I have now calculated the cost for the Ninja Micro clones as I announced in this post: Re: Making an AMD "goldfinger" clone ?
I will be able to send out kits or assembled (and tested) units at 12,50€ each + shipping from Kiel, Germany. For assembled units, you are kindly requested to make a small donation as described in the post I linked above.
Since I will hand-solder everything, don't expect industrial-grade solder joints on the assembled units.
There are currently well over 10 kits left, so shoot me a PM if you want one.

Hello, is there any GFD left for sale? Thanks in advance!

I've been asking for years. Largely ignored. One guy said via messages that he was going to send me one but then stopped responding. Since I started this little venture of classic computers, I've learned a lot but I've never had a PC board printed up. You have to love all these seasoned veterans who think you can just place a bunch of orders for boards and parts from here, there, Mouser and have all kinds of soldering skills and hot air guns and throw one together for yourself. Some people just have a computer and want to enjoy games. They may think that everybody's all set up the same as they are cuz they've been doing it for so long and take it for granted. It would be nice to work together with a few of you that have also asked and see if we noobs can get a batch done for ourselves. Remember this though. When we can do this stuff easily, still be willing to help others or hook the noobs up. I have to figure out how to get a PCB made, and replace the out of stock mouser items. Wish me luck. Message me and I'll try to order enough for whoever responds in a few days. Can't promise it works, be we will try.

Reply 246 of 262, by Obijuan1983

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TimWolf wrote on 2022-08-04, 01:45:
Obijuan1983 wrote on 2022-08-03, 06:48:
gex85 wrote on 2021-04-07, 11:31:
Wow, this has gained some traction once again. Great! Since I have a few of the non-functional Northwind PCBs lying around (and […]
Show full quote

Wow, this has gained some traction once again. Great!
Since I have a few of the non-functional Northwind PCBs lying around (and one assembled), I might give your suggestions a try. But I currently don't have too much time to spare for retro activities, so it might take a few days.

But I have now calculated the cost for the Ninja Micro clones as I announced in this post: Re: Making an AMD "goldfinger" clone ?
I will be able to send out kits or assembled (and tested) units at 12,50€ each + shipping from Kiel, Germany. For assembled units, you are kindly requested to make a small donation as described in the post I linked above.
Since I will hand-solder everything, don't expect industrial-grade solder joints on the assembled units.
There are currently well over 10 kits left, so shoot me a PM if you want one.

Hello, is there any GFD left for sale? Thanks in advance!

I've been asking for years. Largely ignored. One guy said via messages that he was going to send me one but then stopped responding. Since I started this little venture of classic computers, I've learned a lot but I've never had a PC board printed up. You have to love all these seasoned veterans who think you can just place a bunch of orders for boards and parts from here, there, Mouser and have all kinds of soldering skills and hot air guns and throw one together for yourself. Some people just have a computer and want to enjoy games. They may think that everybody's all set up the same as they are cuz they've been doing it for so long and take it for granted. It would be nice to work together with a few of you that have also asked and see if we noobs can get a batch done for ourselves. Remember this though. When we can do this stuff easily, still be willing to help others or hook the noobs up. I have to figure out how to get a PCB made, and replace the out of stock mouser items. Wish me luck. Message me and I'll try to order enough for whoever responds in a few days. Can't promise it works, be we will try.

Count me in TimWolf 😀

Need one to overclock the entire collection Slot A Athlon cpus I received recently with an Abit KA7, for Hwbot.

Reply 247 of 262, by TimWolf

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Count me in TimWolf 😀

Need one to overclock the entire collection Slot A Athlon cpus I received recently with an Abit KA7, for Hwbot.

Looks like I'm going with pcbway. Thinking of red because the many red motherboards I have but black matches the cpu.

Reply 248 of 262, by Obijuan1983

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Color doesnt matters! Tell me when order parts!

Reply 249 of 262, by TimWolf

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Is there a reason to use the powered vs the passive?

Reply 250 of 262, by snufkin

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Passive is neater & smaller, but there's a theoretical possibility that there might be problems setting the voltage. But I've not seen any reports of any problems, so it really is just theoretical at the moment.

Reply 251 of 262, by paradigital

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Necro’ing a thread I know, but I just wanted to thank wiretap for his work on the clones, I’ve recently assembled my Freespeed Pro clone from his gerbers and BOM, and it’s great! Simple enough to solder with hot air 😀

Due to the JLPCB minimum quantity of five, I’ve got three spare blank PCBs that I’ll happily ship to anyone in the UK for free.

The attachment IMG_2626.jpeg is no longer available
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Reply 252 of 262, by feipoa

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paradigital wrote on 2023-10-15, 10:07:
Necro’ing a thread I know, but I just wanted to thank wiretap for his work on the clones, I’ve recently assembled my Freespeed P […]
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Necro’ing a thread I know, but I just wanted to thank wiretap for his work on the clones, I’ve recently assembled my Freespeed Pro clone from his gerbers and BOM, and it’s great! Simple enough to solder with hot air :)

Due to the JLPCB minimum quantity of five, I’ve got three spare blank PCBs that I’ll happily ship to anyone in the UK for free.

IMG_2626.jpeg

IMG_2625.jpeg

Have you tested your goldfinger yet? If so, what was the maximum stable overclock you could achieve, e.g. a Thunderbird 800 running at 1000 MHz?

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 253 of 262, by paradigital

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Only done basic testing so far, ran my 900 thunderbird at 850, 900 and 950 without issue.

What I’m actually hoping for is a good overclock on my 650 Pluto but not had time to try that yet.

Need a day off work without the kids around to get my head into trying my 3 different motherboards and two different CPUs to see where they top out.

Certainly worth the outlay in PCB and components even if I did end up with extra blanks 😀

Reply 254 of 262, by paradigital

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feipoa wrote on 2023-10-15, 14:48:
paradigital wrote on 2023-10-15, 10:07:
Necro’ing a thread I know, but I just wanted to thank wiretap for his work on the clones, I’ve recently assembled my Freespeed P […]
Show full quote

Necro’ing a thread I know, but I just wanted to thank wiretap for his work on the clones, I’ve recently assembled my Freespeed Pro clone from his gerbers and BOM, and it’s great! Simple enough to solder with hot air 😀

Due to the JLPCB minimum quantity of five, I’ve got three spare blank PCBs that I’ll happily ship to anyone in the UK for free.

IMG_2626.jpeg

IMG_2625.jpeg

Have you tested your goldfinger yet? If so, what was the maximum stable overclock you could achieve, e.g. a Thunderbird 800 running at 1000 MHz?

Had a quick play today, I forgot that my Pluto was a 600 not a 650 (though it does have a 650 core). I've been running it without issue at 105*7 for a clock of 735MHz at 1.65v. Probably has more to give but I don't think this K7M has the greatest love for increased FSB.

Reply 255 of 262, by feipoa

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Makes me wonder why it was clocked so low to begin with . What type of software did you run on it at 735 MHz, and for how long?

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 256 of 262, by paradigital

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feipoa wrote on 2023-10-18, 19:27:

Makes me wonder why it was clocked so low to begin with . What type of software did you run on it at 735 MHz, and for how long?

Not a huge variety of software as I was only testing, but many many loops of 3Dmark99/2000/2001 were ran at various clock speeds. I must have had 735MHz running for a good few hours.

I get the feeling from my Slot A CPUs both past and present that most chips tend to be able to do a good few speed ratings higher than they are labelled for. It wouldn’t surprise me if the yeilds were mainly for the same speeds and just marked down to fill product segments to compete with Intel.

Reply 257 of 262, by Fluke

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Hi all

Just found this thread by accident. I'm Dan / Fluke past owner of Ninja Micros, creator of the Freespeed Pro.

When Toms Hardware first found out the purpose of the 'golden fingers' diagnostics connector on Slot A Athlons they posted up a little schematic. Being in the electronics industry previsouly I thought I could make one so just knocked one up on strip board and hard wired it to the CPU. After it was confirmed working I just took the schematic to a electronics manufacturer I'd dealt with before and they did the rest for me paying a couple hundred £ for the prototype to be made.

I think we sold around 14,000 units though had a lot of problems getting the little connecector required later on... in later batches we even bought them off Northwind who had some spare as they were struggling to sell their own card.

Anyway, great job on the clone... very impressed.

Reply 258 of 262, by feipoa

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Couple hundred GBP for such a simple PCB? I guess that was before free PCB drafting software was mainstream, so maybe that cost is within the context of the time. What are some of the companies which we can send an electronic schematic to and have them create PCB gerbers for us? I think that would be helpful around here.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 259 of 262, by Fluke

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feipoa wrote on 2024-04-23, 09:58:

Couple hundred GBP for such a simple PCB? I guess that was before free PCB drafting software was mainstream, so maybe that cost is within the context of the time. What are some of the companies which we can send an electronic schematic to and have them create PCB gerbers for us? I think that would be helpful around here.

I only handed them a hand drawn schematic, they handed back a finished product.... yeah this was like 25yrs ago, things were not so accessible, I was also quite lazy 😀

I think the finished cards came in cost price around £5.50 assembled