hehe, yes wagos are the best. Im not happy with the adapter itself, its for testing and i know its working, but i would like a sleeved solution.
Anyway i will try your suggestion and adding a 120 fan for the second cpu. Im using a Y adapter for the tunnel fans, so its still a fan header free.
The Airflow was one reason i choose a modern case. The open mesh and fans generate really good airflow.
Im pretty sure adding the second cpu fan will be enough to keep anything cool and quite.
We will see..

Next i had to choose the OS. I really would love to use the system with NT4. But Win2k would be the logical.

About an add graphics card. The P3 Xeon use MMX and SSE, was thinking a voodoo will be happy with that ?
Will try my v6000 clone with it. PCI 66MHz is there so why not..

oh yea, win 2k should FLY on this machine. the cutoff for NT4 should be Pentium 2 (ish). The major deciding factor is USB. NT4 was designed before USB and isnt really good at the plug and play nature. its fine for mouse/keyboard, but past that it gets really unhappy, really quick.

there's part of me that wants a V5-6k... but I spent my money recently on a 5090. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

well another aspect is that i dont know how good the NT4 voodoo driver are. Not sure anyone tryed them before?
But W2k driver would be better. I know Win98SE is the best 3dfx driver support, but no way i go not with NT here.
The Voodoos want single core performance but they also like L2 cache. Would be interesting to see how the Xeon perform with a voodoo.

Its worth it, if you can get one. The clones perform really good on AAx8.

What i read is that PCI slot 1-3 are on the AGP 66MHz line. So i should go with PCI slot1 and it would be running 66MHz.
Good i choose the PCI version over AGP, more fun.

luckybob wrote on 2025-05-16, 15:33:

If this was my system, i'd look into making a rear exhaust fan shroud. I'd go out of my way to use clear plastic, you dont want to hide those big beautiful processors. ^.^

You have an exquisite sense of aesthetics!

System is looking great king

Thanks guys!

Ok i did some further testings. It looks like the board do not deteced the CPUs correctly.
You notice on the bootscreen Pentium PRO. In the bios the L2 of both CPUs are 256k not 1MB.
And i got a missmatch CPU message. I think its time for a bios update?

Ok bios update done! The Version I flashed is definitely newer as the one was on the board. The missmatch CPU message is gone. But I still have this CPU bios update message ???

My files for the mainboard includes a folder named Firmware. Im not sure what thies files for. Maybe something else need to be updated

edit:

i did run the BMC 1.07 flash, but nothing changed. Board should be up to date now.
There is a bios option to reset cpu config. But still nothing changed.

Do i maybe need to jumper the bios boot block?

Ok this is a new error for me...

If it was me, I'd look into some sort of cpu identification utility. Likely I'd do a quick install of win2k, and then run cpu-id.

I'd also go through the bios settings with a fine tooth comb, it could be that simple

My idea was its maybe kind of write protected, that why i wonder if i had to jumper the boot block write enable for bios setup the cpus.
But dont want to brick something..

I think you should leave the bios boot block jumper as it is, my guess it's only rewritten if for some reason you need to do a blind bios recovery upgrade from something else than a floppy disk, which is where it looks by default if you move the jumpers from 9-10 to 10-11.
See the page 109 in the manual.

Very nice machine by the way, it reminds me I have a slot2 mobo and two P2 Xeons somewhere...
I wonder if your Voodoo monster card would work in BeOS with the leaked Voodoo4 driver, probably not but heh, who knows!

i concur - the boot block isnt touched unless something goes absolutely tits up. changing it wont make a difference. I feel this is one of things where "if its not broke...."

I think the next step is to install win2k and use CPU-id to verify the processors

if win2k gives you any pushback for not having "identical" cpus. there is a setup option you have to type in to get it going. I'd have to google what it is. It might not care, but I know windows 2003 hard blocks you.

Iirc 2000 doesn't check, I had it running with one 350 and one 450 P2

These errors messages are commonly reported as occurring on both the C440GX+ and L440GX+ boards...intel suggests that you -

- try performing a processor retest:

1.Reboot the system.
2.During POST, press the <F2> key and run SETUP.
3.Select Server Menu.
4.Select Processor Retest YES.
5.Save and exit SETUP.
6.Reboot the system.

Note: YES tells the BIOS to clear historical processor status and retest all processors on the next boot.

- complete a full 'in order' firmware / BIOS update

The current Intel® C440GX+ Server Board production BIOS is BIOS Release 8.1.

Note: If you are using Intel® Cabrillo-C Chassis, you must upgrade to HSC version 0.65 prior to installing this BIOS, or the Hot Swap bay will not function. You must also upgrade the BMC to 1.07 prior to the BIOS upgrade.

Note:The recommended BIOS upgrade method is as follows:

1. CMOS clear
2. BMC Upgrade
3. HSC Upgrade
4. FRU/SDR
5. BIOS
6. CMOS clear

I tryed the retest. But it doesent help. Than i done the update routine you post.
I cant update the HSC firmware.

All the other flashes work just fine.
I notice when i go into bios Prozessor settings the current speed is set to 400MHz, if i try to change it i can only go up to 550MHz and than bios crashed.
The board really struggle with the CPUs.
My HSC firmware hex file is V0.63. Not sure i need the 0.65 ?

Btw i installed Win2k now. Its slow but its working..
HWInfo shows CPU0 = B0 and CPU1= A1 Stepping. Maybe thats my Problem.. CPUs again, it's really frustrating.

HSC update will fail without connection to a hot swap backplane

its probably just unhappy the different steppings. I'd wager you'll just need to live with the error until you buy another cpu.

I cant wait to see win2k running on this old battleaxe.

I watch some other CPU pair, but I need to sell something else before. I have a growing Slot 2 CPU collection I not really want 😀..

I have plenty of room for more slot-2 processors... ^.^

I found another SL49P that would match my first CPU. Will get it in the next days. Till than i tested that dummy cpu that comes with my board.
Installed win2k on a SSD over a flashed SIL3114 sata controller. System runs really fast with single core alone.
Not sure its because the 2GB RAM or the 1MB L2, but definitely faster as a Slot1 P3 with W2k.
Here a picture of HWinfo on the mashine. Still not installed the voodoo. I want first the CPU setup finished.
Maybe i found some day a SL4XY pair..

You can really tell this board is a descendant of the PR440FX