Since P55SP4 mobo comes with SiS 5511 chipset and FP/EDO RAM only, I'd give it a try to Alpine v5.2A board, which looks like a clone of PCChips M537 based on VIA Apollo VP1 - this one also supports SDRAM.

Of course it is up to you to chose an early s.5/7 mobo (ASUS) or mid-age s.7 (Alpine) board 😀

The asus looks like it might be particularly crippled by it's mixed bag of cache chips, leading to timings that are probably no better than no cache. So yeah, I think the P166MMX will be able to stretch it's legs best on the Alpine, and if you already own both, stick a P100 or P90 or something in the Asus.

Thanks!
I will go ahead with the Alpine v5.2A, and save the Asus for another day

d00mo wrote on 2024-10-02, 18:07:

I will go ahead with the Alpine v5.2A, and save the Asus for another day

It's nice that you actually have both boards. If you want "period correct" builds, use some MMX capable s.7 CPU (P55C, AMD K6) + SDRAM with Alpine board and some older classic s.5 Pentium P54C (or AMD K5 if supported by BIOS) with ASUS board.

eeew pcchips https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m537 Via is actually the worst chipset for pentiums there was https://dependency-injection.com/early-pentium-chipsets/

ASUS P/I-P55SP4 + https://github.com/necroware/s7-vrm + COASt Cache stick any day if you cant track a board with Intel chipset.

I would go for the Alpine board as well. The Asus might not be as bad if it had the missing the cache module (instead of the of DIP cache chips), but it also doesn't have SDRAM slots like the Alpine.

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-10-02, 21:22:

eeew pcchips https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m537 Via is actually the worst chipset for pentiums there was https://dependency-injection.com/early-pentium-chipsets/

ASUS P/I-P55SP4 + https://github.com/necroware/s7-vrm + COASt Cache stick any day if you cant track a board with Intel chipset.

That Via was marginally faster than the intel one the same age below it, this board does not have that chipset.

Some m537 tips and hacks http://th2chips.freeservers.com/m537/index.html

Not related to the motherboards, but with something like Pentium 166MMX, I wouldn’t install 98SE in it as it just doesn’t perform well even with having lots of RAM.

I prefer smooth experience, so I use 98lite micro install with Pentiums as that offers all the benefits of 98SE over 95 close to having a win95 performance as it sheds all the nasty web stuff from 98SE.

If your 98 use is limited to the same rut the 98lite's creator is stuck in, use that, but I have never had any luck with any of those, too much is cut out and doesn't work. Then as soon as you have a problem with a game or something, you'll ask here, and people will say "Does it do the same thing on a proper install of 98 on that hardware?" because 95% of the time it's gonna be 98Lite's fault.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-10-03, 14:00:

If your 98 use is limited to the same rut the 98lite's creator is stuck in, use that, but I have never had any luck with any of those, too much is cut out and doesn't work. Then as soon as you have a problem with a game or something, you'll ask here, and people will say "Does it do the same thing on a proper install of 98 on that hardware?" because 95% of the time it's gonna be 98Lite's fault.

I have been using 98lite for a long time and have had zero issues with it in games or otherwise. You can of course get it to go bonkers with those unofficial 98SE service packs, but I don’t use them in my proper 98SE machines either. Also something like NUSB installer replaces the win95 explorer that 98lite installs, but it takes a minute to fix that. Modifying the installer is of course an option, but I’ve never bothered to do that.

In any case, I would skip 98SE on Pentium and if 98lite isn’t your bag, then I would go with 95OSR2 for example.

d00mo wrote on 2024-10-02, 13:33:

I found some info about the Asus, but harder to find for the other one.
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/asus-p … -p55sp4-rev-1.4

Ooo! It's got an Asus Media Bus!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asus_Media_Bus

Got any cards for that?

Does your Asus board even boot? The empty socket near the cache chips is a TAG Ram socket. It‘s just a cache chip like the others, but your board likely won‘t start without it.

Good point, I was mentally ignoring that because I thought it was to extend the tag, due to allowing for larger cache chips, but I don't see a tag on the board to extend, so that must be the one and only.

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-10-02, 21:22:

eeew pcchips https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchips-m537 Via is actually the worst chipset for pentiums there was https://dependency-injection.com/early-pentium-chipsets/

"VX Pro" means PCChips rebranded VIA Apollo VP1 (VT82C580VP) chipset. VIA Apollo Master (VT82C570M) chipset doesn't support SDRAM. So, what are you trying to show with this link for comparison of totally different VIA chipset? "PCChips haters club" membership? 😀

In this particular case Alpine v5.2A is newer and better board than ASUS P/I-P55SP4 (rev 1.4). P/I-P55SP4 will be interesting for fun upgrades - adding proprietary COASt module; adding one of those very hard to find VRM modules for dual voltage MMX CPUs; maybe BF0 resistor mod for better MMX CPU supoort; BIOS mod... etc.

analog_programmer wrote on 2024-10-04, 16:34:

"PCChips haters club" membership? 😀

Where to apply? 😜

IMO PCChips gave "Made in Taiwan" a really bad reputation in the early 1990s.

jheronimus wrote on 2024-10-03, 19:49:

Does your Asus board even boot? The empty socket near the cache chips is a TAG Ram socket. It‘s just a cache chip like the others, but your board likely won‘t start without it.

Thanks for noticing that! I went with the other motherboard and never got to try it out. Did a quick test now, it starts and I get a post, but then stuck on memory test. Could the missing chip be the reason?
Trying to find out what chips I could use, do you know?

d00mo wrote on 2024-10-08, 21:00:

jheronimus wrote on 2024-10-03, 19:49:

Does your Asus board even boot? The empty socket near the cache chips is a TAG Ram socket. It‘s just a cache chip like the others, but your board likely won‘t start without it.

Thanks for noticing that! I went with the other motherboard and never got to try it out. Did a quick test now, it starts and I get a post, but then stuck on memory test. Could the missing chip be the reason?
Trying to find out what chips I could use, do you know?

Does the memory you use pass the test on another motherboard?

Here's the cache combinations for you board.

Looking at the jumpers it seems like the board is set up for 256KB of L2 cache. That means all cache chips should be 32Kx8, like this one. That's the most common kind of cache chip, you can look for it on AliExpress, but make sure to buy extra chips, because these vendors sell salvaged untested parts. These also have access time ratings, that's usually two last digits in the part name (like -15 or -20). Generally the lower, the better, but your TAG chip shouldn't be slower than the other cache chips, so look for 15.

Now the other problem is that your other cache chips are mismatched (different brands, access times, etc). That may or may not cause troubles, so ideally you'd want to replace the full set.

The other way (much simpler) is to get a COAST module. Then you can remove all the other cache chips and just insert it into the brown slot.

It should look like this:

This one came with my Asus board that hase the same chipset as your board, so you can use it for reference.

There are two most common modules out there, pipeline burst (pictured above with bigger chips) and async (has the same kind of smaller chips you have on your motherboard). The manual for you motherboard says it only supports PB cache sticks, so make sure to get one like that (it's a more common one anyways).

Pipeline burst is also faster than async, and you won't need to mess with chips at all. Most COAST sticks are 256KB, but there are some rare 512KB ones (but it really doesn't matter that much).

Thanks a lot for that extensive explanation!
This will be really helpful 🙏

jheronimus wrote on 2024-10-09, 09:35:

Does the memory you use pass the test on another motherboard? […]
Show full quote

d00mo wrote on 2024-10-08, 21:00:

jheronimus wrote on 2024-10-03, 19:49:

Does your Asus board even boot? The empty socket near the cache chips is a TAG Ram socket. It‘s just a cache chip like the others, but your board likely won‘t start without it.

Thanks for noticing that! I went with the other motherboard and never got to try it out. Did a quick test now, it starts and I get a post, but then stuck on memory test. Could the missing chip be the reason?
Trying to find out what chips I could use, do you know?

Does the memory you use pass the test on another motherboard?

Here's the cache combinations for you board.

The attachment Screenshot 2024-10-09 at 12.02.53.png is no longer available

Looking at the jumpers it seems like the board is set up for 256KB of L2 cache. That means all cache chips should be 32Kx8, like this one. That's the most common kind of cache chip, you can look for it on AliExpress, but make sure to buy extra chips, because these vendors sell salvaged untested parts. These also have access time ratings, that's usually two last digits in the part name (like -15 or -20). Generally the lower, the better, but your TAG chip shouldn't be slower than the other cache chips, so look for 15.

Now the other problem is that your other cache chips are mismatched (different brands, access times, etc). That may or may not cause troubles, so ideally you'd want to replace the full set.

The other way (much simpler) is to get a COAST module. Then you can remove all the other cache chips and just insert it into the brown slot.

It should look like this:

The attachment Screenshot 2024-10-09 at 12.23.16.png is no longer available

This one came with my Asus board that hase the same chipset as your board, so you can use it for reference.

There are two most common modules out there, pipeline burst (pictured above with bigger chips) and async (has the same kind of smaller chips you have on your motherboard). The manual for you motherboard says it only supports PB cache sticks, so make sure to get one like that (it's a more common one anyways).

Pipeline burst is also faster than async, and you won't need to mess with chips at all. Most COAST sticks are 256KB, but there are some rare 512KB ones (but it really doesn't matter that much).