FX-3000 motherboard \ VOGONS

FX-3000 motherboard

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First post, by tangles

Posted on 2016-10-26, 02:20

tangles Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: 2016-10-24, 22:56

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum so hope I've put this in the right place 😀

I recently picked up a new old toy. It's an Ipex built system with an FX-3000 motherboard (dual socket 386/486 board, but this one only has the socket for 486), 486 SX 25mhz, 8x 1mb of simms, and a trident VGA card. I've added an SB16, picked up an AT keyboard, ordered a serial mouse and am looking around for a suitably-beige CD-ROM drive to add to the mix.

I also have here a Texas Instruments 486 DX2 80. That clock rate seems too high for the board, but I was hoping to get it into the FX-3000 running at 66mhz. Does anyone know if it's OK to run at a lower clock rate?

I've uploaded some piccys of the system here, which I took while stripping it down for a good clean up 😀

-dead link-

Cheers
Tim

Last edited by tangles on 2018-03-27, 23:57. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 2, by Brickpad

Posted on 2016-10-26, 03:23

Brickpad Offline

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Joined: 2014-03-11, 03:25
Location: New Hampshire

That is quite a unique case, and a bit unusual with 6 LEDs. Interesting to see that 2 of them were for two separate hard drives. Not sure what the Aux(illary) LEDs would be for?

Reply 2 of 2, by luckybob

Posted on 2016-10-26, 03:31

luckybob Offline

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Joined: 2009-04-30, 04:43

That is a speed double processor. You mentioned on your site the FSB options are 25/33/40/50/66. So whatever you select, the processor will run at 2x fsb. 486 boards are hit and miss on quality. the origional 486-50 was "rare" because so few boards would run at 50mhz fsb. Long story short, you are going to want to stay with 33 or 40 fsb at most. 50+ will require additional work and likely wont be worth the effort. (faster cache, better ram, etc)

That said, the ti chip is a nice one, if possible attach a small heatsink. Nothing too powerful, but Its something I recommend to everyone.

Also, hello!

*EDIT*

Also Your board is limited to 25mhz fsb only. The clock is zip-tied to the board, it reads 25mhz. That is something that would need to be replaced for any fsb upgrades.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

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