Nice. The motherboard cache may not cover the maximum RAM anyway; hopefully it covers the 256MB you've installed and if not, would cover 128MB.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2026-04-24, 00:41:

Nice. The motherboard cache may not cover the maximum RAM anyway; hopefully it covers the 256MB you've installed and if not, would cover 128MB.

The boards maximum RAM is actually an insane 384Mb if you use the 2 SIMM slots with an extra 128MB, I might do this in the future but SIMM RAM is much more expensive than DIMM and its kind of overkill anyway, yes, i'd get fast page 60ns RAM but for now 256 is more than enough for what I want it for 😀 I'm thinking the end of the world would be something like Unreal Tournament or Half Life.

I have an almost identical system running on an Acorp 5ALI61 with a K6-2+/550 (specs in signature). It has been a very good system, highly recommended.

I broke the CPU socket clip and burned out the onboard USB controller, but it's still working. I also added a a PicoGUS alongside the Live! and SB16 for GUS and virtual CD in DOS support. I also opted for SD over CF because it was easier to work with SD cards. But I am using it as a secondary drive next to spinning rust, if you do want a period accurate spinny drive the Seagate U series (aka rubber bra) are well regarded.

nVidia drivers for the ti4200 are a bit CPU heavy for a K6 system, voodoo drivers (and GPU) will get you the furthest towards later games working. 1999 games need some tweaks to get running reasonably well (e.g. disabling lightmaps in q3 engine games).

I'm running an AT case converted to ATX, I was thinking about AT power supply but it seemed a bit "new" for a hard power switch.

Pretty sure with the L2 Tag ram set to 10 in the BIOS it will cover 256MB of RAM, but 128 is already more than enough for anything the system can run honestly.

Make sure you flash the latest BIOS version for the board available on Jan's website: https://web.archive.org/web/20260107183733/ht … info/k6plus.htm

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-04-24, 01:07:

I have an almost identical system running on an Acorp 5ALI61 with a K6-2+/550 (specs in signature). It has been a very good syst […]
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I have an almost identical system running on an Acorp 5ALI61 with a K6-2+/550 (specs in signature). It has been a very good system, highly recommended.

I broke the CPU socket clip and burned out the onboard USB controller, but it's still working. I also added a a PicoGUS alongside the Live! and SB16 for GUS and virtual CD in DOS support. I also opted for SD over CF because it was easier to work with SD cards. But I am using it as a secondary drive next to spinning rust, if you do want a period accurate spinny drive the Seagate U series (aka rubber bra) are well regarded.

nVidia drivers for the ti4200 are a bit CPU heavy for a K6 system, voodoo drivers (and GPU) will get you the furthest towards later games working. 1999 games need some tweaks to get running reasonably well (e.g. disabling lightmaps in q3 engine games).

I'm running inan AT case converted to ATX, I was thinking about AT power supply but it seemed a bit "new" for a hard power switch.

Sorry to hear about the damage! BTW the USB pinout is the full 10 pin, does that matter? cound I used a 9 pin connector and drill out the extra pin? From what i gather its just a ground anyway.

I do have a few other GPU's I can use, but its the AGP connector man, its the earlier version and I don't have as many connector types for that style (where the cutout is at the back rather than the front), I'll definitely keep an eye out and also see how it performs.

Thanks for the info though!

Virtue wrote on 2026-04-24, 01:17:

BTW the USB pinout is the full 10 pin, does that matter? cound I used a 9 pin connector and drill out the extra pin? From what i gather its just a ground anyway.

I was plugging in a 9 pin bracket in the dark and didn't realise it was 10 pin, i probably offset it by a row of pins and shorted something. So maybe don't t do that haha. In terms of pinout, after the magic smoke got released I went with a period accurate firelink PCI card for USB and didn't really look at it much. But I think it would be best to check the pinout of the board before plugging in anything as when this board came out there was no standardisation.

Oh do you have a PS2 mouse bracket? I ordered one off of aliexpress and they sent me two so I have a spare. It's a combo PS/2 mouse and serial port bracket, both of which are breakout headers on the motherboard. Also with the Ps/2 port it's not standard so the bracket I got has individual wires you can put in any pin to match the pinout of the motherboard.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-04-24, 01:22:

Virtue wrote on 2026-04-24, 01:17:

BTW the USB pinout is the full 10 pin, does that matter? cound I used a 9 pin connector and drill out the extra pin? From what i gather its just a ground anyway.

I was plugging in a 9 pin bracket in the dark and didn't realise it was 10 pin, i probably offset it by a row of pins and shorted something. So maybe don't t do that haha. In terms of pinout, after the magic smoke got released I went with a period accurate firelink PCI card for USB and didn't really look at it much. But I think it would be best to check the pinout of the board before plugging in anything as when this board came out there was no standardisation.

Oh do you have a PS2 mouse bracket? I ordered one off of aliexpress and they sent me two so I have a spare. It's a combo PS/2 mouse and serial port bracket, both of which are breakout headers on the motherboard. Also with the Ps/2 port it's not standard so the bracket I got has individual wires you can put in any pin to match the pinout of the motherboard.

OH thats not good! Well I do have a standalone PCI USB 1.0 card which I was initially going to use so That's my first option. Another is I have a modern generic 3.5" front bay with USB on and was going to use that (either spray it beige or use an old Floppy blanking plate as the front plate and cut out the USB holes)

No but theres one on eBay at the moment for 24 quid, bit pricy for what it is, but I'll probably need it, or try use the afformationed PCI USB card for mouse support. Im UK based btw.

USB will work fine in windows for mouse but DOS is a minefield of compatibility and TSRs because the BIOS doesn't have legacy USB conversion for USB input devices like newer ones do, I would recommend sticking with a serial or PS/2 mouse if possible.

Just let me know if you want the bracket I will send it gratis, I've already spent way too much money to be concerned about the postage on one item haha. I can't see any of the individual wire tail ones online anymore, if you buy one you will likely need to re-pin it. It needs to be a 1x5 or 2x5 connector for successful re-pinning as the unused pin is in the middle, so the connector needs to span 5 pins. A 1x4 adapter won't work.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-04-24, 01:29:

USB will work fine in windows for mouse but DOS is a minefield of compatibility and TSRs because the BIOS doesn't have legacy USB conversion for USB input devices like newer ones do, I would recommend sticking with a serial or PS/2 mouse if possible.

Just let me know if you want the bracket I will send it gratis, I've already spent way too much money to be concerned about the postage on one item haha. I can't see any of the individual wire tail ones online anymore, if you buy one you will likely need to re-pin it.

Thats a good point, I know it was at the dawn of USB compatibility so its definitely something I've looked into! Thats pretty awesome to offer dude 😀 I really appreciate it! I'm so glad theres good instructions for this board and it does include the manual on the retroweb page https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/ford-l … i-m1543-variant 😀 I'm definitely interested!

In terms of storage I have 2x 40gb IDE hard drives which should be more than enough for games etc.

Im using an ATX power supply as well btw, I do have one with AT connectors but its untested, i'm not sure I want to risk it tbh.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-04-24, 01:29:

USB will work fine in windows for mouse but DOS is a minefield of compatibility and TSRs because the BIOS doesn't have legacy USB conversion for USB input devices like newer ones do, I would recommend sticking with a serial or PS/2 mouse if possible.

Just let me know if you want the bracket I will send it gratis, I've already spent way too much money to be concerned about the postage on one item haha. I can't see any of the individual wire tail ones online anymore, if you buy one you will likely need to re-pin it. It needs to be a 1x5 or 2x5 connector for successful re-pinning as the unused pin is in the middle, so the connector needs to span 5 pins. A 1x4 adapter won't work.

Hey dude I was going to PM you about the bracket but it seems I don't have permission to do so, If you still do want to send me that bracket I'd be very appreciated, we'll have to sort the details out somewhere though.

Virtue wrote on 2026-04-26, 14:09:

Hey dude I was going to PM you about the bracket but it seems I don't have permission to do so, If you still do want to send me that bracket I'd be very appreciated, we'll have to sort the details out somewhere though.

Did you receive my DM?

Also just since I remembered now, you should use specifically CuteMouse 2.0A4 with this motherboard if using a PS/2 mouse, other mouse drivers/versions will cause freezes in some DOS games. Probably something not quite standard in the way the BIOS handles PS/2 mouse support.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-04-26, 14:52:

Virtue wrote on 2026-04-26, 14:09:

Hey dude I was going to PM you about the bracket but it seems I don't have permission to do so, If you still do want to send me that bracket I'd be very appreciated, we'll have to sort the details out somewhere though.

Did you receive my DM?

Also just since I remembered now, you should use specifically CuteMouse 2.0A4 with this motherboard if using a PS/2 mouse, other mouse drivers/versions will cause freezes in some DOS games. Probably something not quite standard in the way the BIOS handles PS/2 mouse support.

I got your DM yes, thanks, I emailed you, not sure if you got it, maybe check the junk folder?

And thanks a lot for the info about mouse drivers! I was going to ask about that at some point! 😅

I have this motherboard or a very similar one. It seems stable. Only two downsides is that its not ATX and you might have a hard time fitting Voodoo's in the PCI sockets due to the position of the cpu.

Cool build. Its fun to use your own components from way back then.

Good catch about the slot length Joakim.

There was a low profile cooler available back in the day and infrequently nowadays called the Tennmax Lasagna, which people used to avoid this and similar problems in the past.

edit: here be the beast for the seeking https://www.overclockers.com/tennmax-lasagna-cpu-cooler/

editII: the article also drops a clue for other avenues for low profile cooling, "1U" blade servers. Heatsinks for those have to be super short so looking for "socket A 1U" or "socket 370 1U" heatsinks might find you one. Those should both fit socket 7 and seems unlikely that a 1U solution specific to 7 was ever made, it was just a year or two too old by that time.

Joakim wrote on 2026-04-27, 14:05:

I have this motherboard or a very similar one. It seems stable. Only two downsides is that its not ATX and you might have a hard time fitting Voodoo's in the PCI sockets due to the position of the cpu.

Cool build. Its fun to use your own components from way back then.

I bought it specifically because it's NOT ATX 🤣, I have plenty of ATX systems dating back from 2001 to present day-ish 😀 I wanted an AT build.

Also I plan to use the AGP slot rather than the PCI slots, I have a few alternative cards if the Ti4200 is too much for the system 😄

Nice setup! you might be able to run that CPU at 600MHz if you set the multiplier to 2x (2x=6x on K6/2/+& K6/3/+)

After completing a similar build recently, I would agree with some of the other commentors that the (super) Socket 7 system is going to struggle with 3d titles after '99 or so. But they do make a good base for DOS. I ended up building an athlon XP machine as well for the late Win98 titles I wanted to play, but it still has full DOS compatibility. If I can't get a game working on one machine it normally will work on the other - And I had a few surprises along the way.

One thing I noticed having a later machine is shadowing of System BIOS, Video BIOS, eats up more upper memory. I can't get near the amount of free base memory on my athlon system that I can on the K6.

Have a look at K6init - it may unlock some additional performance for you particularly in hires DOS titles