Wow, nice find 😀

Even though it's NIB, watch those caps like a hawk, electrolyte can and does degrade over time, and MSI boards from 1999/2000 weren't great on that count to start with.

dionb wrote on 2025-04-19, 13:46:

Wow, nice find 😀

Even though it's NIB, watch those caps like a hawk, electrolyte can and does degrade over time, and MSI boards from 1999/2000 weren't great on that count to start with.

the moment i see anything funny from them, I'm gonna replace 'em all, luckily there aren't too many on this board

I have no advice because I didn't own or sell any slot A stuff back in the day but that's a great find! Have fun.

The mosfets on the left of the cpu slot get uncomfortably hot on this motherboard. It can't hurt use an extra fan to improve the airflow over that section when you are going to use the board.

Build the system and see what you can get Slot A: Aiming for the stars

I have a 6195 with similar heatsinks. They'll get hot no matter what, but so far they survive.

This might be the perfect time to get my Slot A boards in order. I have a DFI AK70, a MSI 6195 IR3 and a K7M, all doing nothing. The last one needs replacing because the primary IDE flat out doesn't work. (I either get Primary Master failure or ATAPI Incompatible errors on that channel.

Slot 1 is much more stable but I like my Slot A system, its a bit different and not that common.
Currently its a bit of a parts build, with a SB Live! but my plan is to pair with a 3DFX Banshee and Vortex 2
Kind of an opposite to the multiple Intel/Nvidia/Creative builds I have.

Update: 5/2/25
Got a 700mhz K7, 512mb of ram, ati rage 128 pro, creative audigy 2 to slap on this board, after nuking a few windows 98se installs, I can report that this thing is working perfectly!

though of course the case I have it running in doesn't have any side panels so it's also very loud!

some (purposely low quality) images below 😀

What kind of heatsink you have installed on it? Many small SECC heatsinks out there were designed for relatively small heat loads of Deschutes CPUs. Your K7 if it is Pluto has a TDP of 39W and Argon even has 50W.

One good option is to get one those big OEM passive SECC heatsinks and add a silent fan to it to make noise levels lower or some proper SECC cooler designed for these CPUs. Here is an older thread that has some pictures of those large passive heatsinks:

Best cooler for SECC processors (Slot A Athlon to be precize)

I personally currently have Globalwin VOS32 on my Pluto 650MHz@800MHz rig, which was one of the best Slot A coolers out there. And it is big! Original Ystech fans were incredibly loud beasts, so I switched those to modern 60mm Noctuas and it is really pleasant to sit next to it. I do have it in a closed case, albeit a modern one with quite a lot of mesh and with three 120mm case fans.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2025-05-03, 05:44:

What kind of heatsink you have installed on it? Many small SECC heatsinks out there were designed for relatively small heat load […]
Show full quote

What kind of heatsink you have installed on it? Many small SECC heatsinks out there were designed for relatively small heat loads of Deschutes CPUs. Your K7 if it is Pluto has a TDP of 39W and Argon even has 50W.

One good option is to get one those big OEM passive SECC heatsinks and add a silent fan to it to make noise levels lower or some proper SECC cooler designed for these CPUs. Here is an older thread that has some pictures of those large passive heatsinks:

Best cooler for SECC processors (Slot A Athlon to be precize)

I personally currently have Globalwin VOS32 on my Pluto 650MHz@800MHz rig, which was one of the best Slot A coolers out there. And it is big! Original Ystech fans were incredibly loud beasts, so I switched those to modern 60mm Noctuas and it is really pleasant to sit next to it. I do have it in a closed case, albeit a modern one with quite a lot of mesh and with three 120mm case fans.

I have a blower style slot A cooler master with a single fan that came mounted on the CPU when I got it (Pictured in slightly better quality below), not the fanciest but it's worked out so far, though now that I think about it I don't think it's gotten that hot while I've run the system thus far, so I'm beginning to suspect something might be up with either the cooler or the mounting plate on top of the CPU itself.

I've also been contemplating putting this system into a more modern case much like you have though.

steakguy120 wrote on 2025-05-03, 14:44:

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2025-05-03, 05:44:

What kind of heatsink you have installed on it? Many small SECC heatsinks out there were designed for relatively small heat load […]
Show full quote

What kind of heatsink you have installed on it? Many small SECC heatsinks out there were designed for relatively small heat loads of Deschutes CPUs. Your K7 if it is Pluto has a TDP of 39W and Argon even has 50W.

One good option is to get one those big OEM passive SECC heatsinks and add a silent fan to it to make noise levels lower or some proper SECC cooler designed for these CPUs. Here is an older thread that has some pictures of those large passive heatsinks:

Best cooler for SECC processors (Slot A Athlon to be precize)

I personally currently have Globalwin VOS32 on my Pluto 650MHz@800MHz rig, which was one of the best Slot A coolers out there. And it is big! Original Ystech fans were incredibly loud beasts, so I switched those to modern 60mm Noctuas and it is really pleasant to sit next to it. I do have it in a closed case, albeit a modern one with quite a lot of mesh and with three 120mm case fans.

I have a blower style slot A cooler master with a single fan that came mounted on the CPU when I got it (Pictured in slightly better quality below), not the fanciest but it's worked out so far, though now that I think about it I don't think it's gotten that hot while I've run the system thus far, so I'm beginning to suspect something might be up with either the cooler or the mounting plate on top of the CPU itself.

I've also been contemplating putting this system into a more modern case much like you have though.

That looks like CoolerMaster Slot A cooler, I have one of those and it should be completely fine for that CPU and it is not bad at all even for noise. If you haven't already, remove the cooler as the old thermal paste is most likely hard as a rock put some new paste on it. There is of course the possibility that the heat compound between the heatspreader plate and CPU die has crumbled. What always happens with these CPUs is that thick compound between cache chips and heatplate "flow" with time as the CPU is installed vertically, but I haven't found this to be a big problem. I haven't measured heatsink temps, but both the CoolerMaster and VOS32 feel just warm to touch, VOS32 less so because two 60mm fans blast to it.

Of course your other components may be the reason for noise, but as said my NOS CoolerMaster isn't particularly loud, although the higher pitch sound could be heard over the modern 120mm case fans, VOS32 with Noctuas drown under the case fans. I have old recapped Enermax PSU on the system and it is practically silent and I can't hear Leadtek GF2 GTS fan either.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2025-05-03, 15:14:

steakguy120 wrote on 2025-05-03, 14:44:

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2025-05-03, 05:44:

What kind of heatsink you have installed on it? Many small SECC heatsinks out there were designed for relatively small heat load […]
Show full quote

What kind of heatsink you have installed on it? Many small SECC heatsinks out there were designed for relatively small heat loads of Deschutes CPUs. Your K7 if it is Pluto has a TDP of 39W and Argon even has 50W.

One good option is to get one those big OEM passive SECC heatsinks and add a silent fan to it to make noise levels lower or some proper SECC cooler designed for these CPUs. Here is an older thread that has some pictures of those large passive heatsinks:

Best cooler for SECC processors (Slot A Athlon to be precize)

I personally currently have Globalwin VOS32 on my Pluto 650MHz@800MHz rig, which was one of the best Slot A coolers out there. And it is big! Original Ystech fans were incredibly loud beasts, so I switched those to modern 60mm Noctuas and it is really pleasant to sit next to it. I do have it in a closed case, albeit a modern one with quite a lot of mesh and with three 120mm case fans.

I have a blower style slot A cooler master with a single fan that came mounted on the CPU when I got it (Pictured in slightly better quality below), not the fanciest but it's worked out so far, though now that I think about it I don't think it's gotten that hot while I've run the system thus far, so I'm beginning to suspect something might be up with either the cooler or the mounting plate on top of the CPU itself.

I've also been contemplating putting this system into a more modern case much like you have though.

That looks like CoolerMaster Slot A cooler, I have one of those and it should be completely fine for that CPU and it is not bad at all even for noise. If you haven't already, remove the cooler as the old thermal paste is most likely hard as a rock put some new paste on it. There is of course the possibility that the heat compound between the heatspreader plate and CPU die has crumbled. What always happens with these CPUs is that thick compound between cache chips and heatplate "flow" with time as the CPU is installed vertically, but I haven't found this to be a big problem. I haven't measured heatsink temps, but both the CoolerMaster and VOS32 feel just warm to touch, VOS32 less so because two 60mm fans blast to it.

Of course your other components may be the reason for noise, but as said my NOS CoolerMaster isn't particularly loud, although the higher pitch sound could be heard over the modern 120mm case fans, VOS32 with Noctuas drown under the case fans. I have old recapped Enermax PSU on the system and it is practically silent and I can't hear Leadtek GF2 GTS fan either.

I agree that the noise from the CPU cooler isn't that bad, the main thing responsible for noise are the two other fans, as well as the expansion slot blower fan I have running with the case open, I will defiantly think about checking the paste under the thermal plate since i've already replaced the stuff between the plate and the cooler itself.