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QDI P5i430vx 250dm Explorer II from 1996 ?

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First post, by user33331

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Hello
Is this Pentium 1 motherboard a good high end one (no entry level/low cost/budget motherboard ?) and easy to use ? They appear to be very common.
QDI P5i430vx 250dm Explorer II :
http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/Archive/Qdi%20- … ls/430vxe22.pdf
- It has just 48mb of memory "max is 128mb" manual says 1x 3.3V DIMM.
( I have multiple 1x SDRAM 128mb from PIII(3)+Socket 462(A) PC-100/133mhz combs but they probably don't fit.)
- GPU= S3 Trio 64 PCI 😒 Oh no. 🤣 This I know it is bad.
- Sound card= OPTi 82C929A ISA https://www.philscomputerlab.com/82c929a.html

This should be the latest BIOS ?=http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/Archive/Qdi%20- … R_II/index.html

What is the real deal with using a PCI sound card or a ISA sound card ?
- Should I use a PCI Sound Blaster Live! 1999 card ?
or
- Should I use a ISA card: ESS ES1869F 1996-97 or OPTi 82C929A 1996 ?

Reply 1 of 7, by appiah4

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I have an Explorer I, which is fairly similar:

QDI_Explorer_I_P5_I430_VX.jpg

It has been serving perfectly well in my Pentium 133 Build for a year now. It's not a high end board, obviously, being a 430VX chipset, but it's very reliable for a budget board. The Explorer I is not compatible with K6-2 and other low voltage processors, maybe Exporer II is better in this regard, but I would still not consider it for a Super Socket 7 build regardless. for a P54C/P55C or K5/K6 build it's a good workhorse but not a speed demon.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 2 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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The Explorer I is not compatible with K6-2 and other low voltage processors

If it can do at least 2.8v (MMX support), then it's compatible.

Get up, come on get down with the sickness
Open up your hate, and let it flow into me

Reply 3 of 7, by appiah4

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The Serpent Rider wrote:

The Explorer I is not compatible with K6-2 and other low voltage processors

If it can do at least 2.8v (MMX support), then it's compatible.

It can only go down to 2.5V, it can't do 2.2V-2.4V

https://www.arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/m/P-R/33900.htm

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 4 of 7, by dionb

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user33331 wrote:

Hello
Is this Pentium 1 motherboard a good high end one (no entry level/low cost/budget motherboard ?) and easy to use ?

Define "high end"? Or "no entry level"? This is an i430VX chipset, which was the low-end partner to the high-end i430HX chipset (both shared the "Triton II" monniker)

As for which cards you should use - that depends a lot on what you intend to use it for / which OS you intend to run on it. Same applies for whether it's a good idea or not.

Reply 5 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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It can only go down to 2.5V

It does not matter, slight overvoltage won't do anything. AMD K6-2 can work at 2.8v without any issues.

Get up, come on get down with the sickness
Open up your hate, and let it flow into me

Reply 6 of 7, by user33331

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Ok. It was the older Explorer I (one) afterall.(with Pentium 120 MHz)
So AMD K6-I: only "200 Mhz" from 1997-98 is the fastest ?
No jumper settings above +200 Mhz ?

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Reply 7 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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Pentium MMX 233 interprets 1.5x multiplier as 3.5x.
AMD K6-2 interprets 2x multiplier as 6x (only "Chomper" version) and 1.5x as 3.5x
I think Cyrix M2 behaves the same way, i.e. 1.5x = 3.5x.

Get up, come on get down with the sickness
Open up your hate, and let it flow into me

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