archsan wrote:

I have the chance to acquire a set of this motherboard complete with P233MMX and memory plus several units to stock as spare par […]
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I have the chance to acquire a set of this motherboard complete with P233MMX and memory plus several units to stock as spare parts.

DFI G586ITOX quick spec:

Socket 7
Intel® 82430TX PCIset
ATX
S3 Trio64V+ 1MB integrated
1 dedicated PCI slot
5 dedicated 16-bit ISA slots
1 shared PCI/ISA slot

complete specification on DFI website

Do you have an experience with this motherboard? What's your opinion of it? I will be using this model to build a retro system with lots of sound cards (configuration details aside--i know it's going to be tricky 😉), but maybe i will have to avoid sound cards requiring 5V to use with this 430TX mobo (might only work with 3.3V ISA--confirmation needed).

Thank you!

Hey..I got one of these too a year ago but haven't tested it yet...I love the idea of having all those ISA slots 😀

Mine came without the I/O shield 🙁

I have very good experiences with DFI boards. Particularly those with ISA slots. Unfortunately I have never used this one.

On the other hand, DFI based boards have proved very useful and work without a hitch for DOS and Windows 3.x. LAPC-I works flawlessly too, even in a Socket 370 based DFI 6AC1 motherbaord, where I have installed a PIII 1GHz cpu.

The other one is a DFI P2XBL - a Slot 1 based mobo with 3 ISA slots.

And hey, Amigaz! I just saw the "(FOUND!)" statement in your signature! When and Where on Earth did you get it from? Did I miss one of your threads or announcements regarding it?
I know you've been searching for one for so long!

Thanks for the feedbacks.

Malik wrote:

I have very good experiences with DFI boards. Particularly those with ISA slots.

Yeah, i just realized that DFI is one of the few manufacturers who provide "industrial" motherboards with ISA. They've got P4 mobos with ISA, but unfortunately no ATX Pentium-M mobo with ISA--like one of the IPC (is that correct?) MB series. But for P1 and P3 (socket 370, 440BX) they have the 6 ISA variants.

I'm aiming for socket 7 because they are easily available in clockspeeds under 200MHz (unlike that before-34th-week-1998-Deschutes thing and engineering-sample-Coppermines 🙁 ).

Malik wrote:

LAPC-I works flawlessly too, even in a Socket 370 based DFI 6AC1

The concern about 5V ISA came from this THG Socket 7 mobo review:

Since 430TX chipset motherboards work with 3.3 Volts on the ISA bus instead of the classic 5 Volts, some voltage critical cards (e.g. AVM Fritz! ISDN card) may be malfunctioning.

Should not be a big issue though if i can avoid soundcards with 5V requirement.

And hey, Amigaz! I just saw the "(FOUND!)" statement in your signature! When and Where on Earth did you get it from? Did I miss one of your threads or announcements regarding it?

I noticed that some days ago, and he promised something like the "Ultimate 386 machine" 😁

About the 6 ISA slots, i have a wild plan--if you promise not to laugh i'd tell you in the next post 😁

archsan wrote:

I will be using this model to build a retro system with lots of sound cards

Interesting! If money doesn't matter you could of course consider a complete industrial solution, I mean a PCIsa or PCIMG backplane with the respective cpu cards (and chassis). If you wonder how this looks like, you can browse here:

http://www.ipc2u.com/catalog/

to Malik:

works flawlessly too, even in a Socket 370 based DFI 6AC1 motherbaord

You mean the CA61, don't you?

Amigaz wrote:

Hey..I got one of these too a year ago but haven't tested it yet... 😀

Why not?

(...too much of other, more interesting stuff i guess!) 😁

Silent Loon wrote:

Interesting! If money doesn't matter...

I wish... 😁 But yes, theoretically, money shouldn't matter indeed. It's allocation that matters 😊

Silent Loon wrote:

you could of course consider a complete industrial solution, I mean a PCIsa or PCIMG backplane with the respective cpu cards (and chassis).

I did consider the ISA (passive) backplane solution, but i kind of stepped back because i don't know how it works. I mean, do you just put a half-sized CPU card on one of the slot and then the rest of the slots will be identified and become usable--as simple as that?

Anyway, here's the plan... Don't laugh 😁

Malik wrote:

I have very good experiences with DFI boards. Particularly those with ISA slots. Unfortunately I have never used this one. […]
Show full quote

I have very good experiences with DFI boards. Particularly those with ISA slots. Unfortunately I have never used this one.

On the other hand, DFI based boards have proved very useful and work without a hitch for DOS and Windows 3.x. LAPC-I works flawlessly too, even in a Socket 370 based DFI 6AC1 motherbaord, where I have installed a PIII 1GHz cpu.

The other one is a DFI P2XBL - a Slot 1 based mobo with 3 ISA slots.

And hey, Amigaz! I just saw the "(FOUND!)" statement in your signature! When and Where on Earth did you get it from? Did I miss one of your threads or announcements regarding it?
I know you've been searching for one for so long!

Found one on Ebay.....almost gave up the hunt
Been offered one a couple of times but the sellers backed out in the end and were silent like a clam
But I won't celebrate until it has arrived...then I'll make a post in "system specs" when it's installed in my recent 386 full tower power house
😎

archsan wrote:

Why not? […]
Show full quote

Amigaz wrote:

Hey..I got one of these too a year ago but haven't tested it yet... 😀

Why not?

(...too much of other, more interesting stuff i guess!) 😁

Silent Loon wrote:

Interesting! If money doesn't matter...

I wish... 😁 But yes, theoretically, money shouldn't matter indeed. It's allocation that matters 😊

Silent Loon wrote:

you could of course consider a complete industrial solution, I mean a PCIsa or PCIMG backplane with the respective cpu cards (and chassis).

I did consider the ISA (passive) backplane solution, but i kind of stepped back because i don't know how it works. I mean, do you just put a half-sized CPU card on one of the slot and then the rest of the slots will be identified and become usable--as simple as that?

Anyway, here's the plan... Don't laugh 😁

Yeah...and lack of time...never start working in the marine business in a country like mine...it means your life ends May-August 😜

I'm going to fire it up later this year and see how it performs with win98SE and a P1 233mmx 😀

archsan wrote:

"industrial" motherboards with ISA. They've got P4 mobos with ISA

I once thought of that too, but changed my mind when there are few things to consider, mainly regarding with compatibility of some ISA cards and possibility of DOS or Win3.x based applications (read : games 😀) not working.

archsan wrote:

Anyway, here's the plan... Don't laugh 😁

"Arrr!" Indeed! 😁

Silent Loon wrote:

You mean the CA61, don't you?

Errr...yeah, I stand corrected. It's CA61! Thanks for correcting! 😀

Amigaz wrote:

Found one on Ebay.....almost gave up the hunt Been offered one a couple of times but the sellers backed out in the end and were […]
Show full quote

Found one on Ebay.....almost gave up the hunt
Been offered one a couple of times but the sellers backed out in the end and were silent like a clam
But I won't celebrate until it has arrived...then I'll make a post in "system specs" when it's installed in my recent 386 full tower power house
😎

Wow! Sounds like it's gonna be an emotional, long lost, old friend re-union! 😁

Malik wrote:

archsan wrote:

"industrial" motherboards with ISA. They've got P4 mobos with ISA

I once thought of that too, but changed my mind when there are few things to consider, mainly regarding with compatibility of some ISA cards and possibility of DOS or Win3.x based applications (read : games 😀) not working.

Well, i don't know which model exactly you referred to, and i haven't checked any of DFI P4/ISA model either, but up until ICH4/5 southbridge, there should be DMA support for ISA which is required for DOS sound. While the Intel Express chipset family (ICH6 and afterwards) have limitations on this matter. I remember reading a forum thread where a member decided to buy an expensive COMMEL P4LA industrial mobo (supports Core 2 Duo IIRC) with ISA slots, then reported back that there was no sound in DOS...

On the other hand, the ICH4 on this interesting Pentium-M mobo with ISA supports DMA via LPC (which is "similar to ISA DMA", the manual says). PC/PCI DMA is also present. If this proved to work well with ISA soundcards on DOS, this could almost be a winner for late DOS games/Win9x combo (Pentium M 2GHz!). "Almost", because the AGP slot is "cut out" 🙁 Wondering if there's a similar mobo with an AGP slot (maybe with 855PM northbridge instead of the integrated 855GME)...
_____

Back to topic--because so far i've got no bad feedback on DFI mobos in general (i know finding someone who uses the 586ITOX on a daily basis--today--might be difficult), i decide to order a couple. Depending on communication and actual shipping, it might take longer before i can report back--besides, i have not yet collected that many classic ISA soundcards 😀

Thanks again for your feedbacks!

--------
edit: It's a long time ago, but I forgot to update it-- the seller didn't communicate back and the listing is long gone... 🙁 On the other hand, I think I can make do with just 4 ISA slots.