VOGONS


First post, by Shaina

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I can hardly find any information or specifications for this motherboard online, and I've noticed that it has a third P8/P9 connection by the ISA and PCI slots, does anyone know what this third connection is for? Only the two main power connections were connected to the PSU when I received this motherboard. Here's an example picture from online.

s-l1600.jpg

Also can anybody find specifications for this motherboard? I wasn't able to. Like the maximum RAM for the board, max CPU, what all the pins and jumpers do, etc?

Just your local tech girl!

Reply 2 of 6, by precaud

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That's a Plato board. I have one with the same PBA and like it. It appears by the jumpers yours has a P90 on it.

There have been two recent threads with info about that board:
Gateway 2000 P5-90 Restoration
Replace Dallas RTC battery without desoldering?

If you can live with its 2GB IDE HDD limit, it's a nice board.

Last edited by precaud on 2019-09-02, 03:02. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 3 of 6, by TheMobRules

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The third connector is usually called "P10" and it's used to supply 3.3V to the PCI slots. Some OEM AT power supplies had that extra connector but in most cases it's not necessary to use it.

Reply 4 of 6, by Shaina

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j^aws wrote:

^^ Looks like an Intel Premier Socket 4 board - aka Batman's Revenge:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web& … khLSV59Fjp5tw8w

Thanks! Definitely looks Very similar, however this particular one I have is a socket 5, but that manual still helps for sure.

precaud wrote:
That's a Plato board. I have one with the same PBA and like it. It appears by the jumpers yours has a P90 on it. […]
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That's a Plato board. I have one with the same PBA and like it. It appears by the jumpers yours has a P90 on it.

There have been two recent threads with info about that board:
Gateway 2000 P5-90 Restoration
Replace Dallas RTC battery without desoldering?

If you can live with its 2GB IDE HDD limit, it's a nice board.

Omg, yes! This definitely looks like it! Some say it's socket 7, but mine is a socket 5. Do you know where to find the manual for it, and about how much RAM it can have maximum? Another question I have is if a socket 7 heatsink can be used on a socket 5 board, as they look very similar with the notches and I can Not find a single "Socket 5" heatsink online. Thank you so much though!

TheMobRules wrote:

The third connector is usually called "P10" and it's used to supply 3.3V to the PCI slots. Some OEM AT power supplies had that extra connector but in most cases it's not necessary to use it.

Yes! I looked it up, and it looks like they also have adapters for ATX PSUs that allow them to have P8, P9, and P10 connectors on them. What kind of cards typically used 3.3v and about how common were they? I also notice on the old AT PSUs, they have like, two inputs for power cords, one with the prongs, and one for prongs to be inserted into it. What's the difference between them? Are they both needed or only one? Thanks for your help.

Just your local tech girl!

Reply 5 of 6, by precaud

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Shaina wrote:

Omg, yes! This definitely looks like it! Some say it's socket 7, but mine is a socket 5. Do you know where to find the manual for it, and about how much RAM it can have maximum?

The board's formal name is "Premiere/PCI II", the manual is here: http://ohwc.narod.ru/man-dat/mainboards/intel/i_plato.pdf
Max ram for this board is 128MB (though the chipset supposedly supports more).
The manual says boards with our PBA # doesn't support a P100 cpu, but mine works fine with one.

Another question I have is if a socket 7 heatsink can be used on a socket 5 board, as they look very similar with the notches and I can Not find a single "Socket 5" heatsink online. Thank you so much though!

Yes, they mount the same, you should be fine. If you have a heatsink with tall fins like the ones shown in the above links, and there is some airflow over it, you won't need to use a cpu fan. One less thing to listen to 😀

Not to answer your question about the 3.3V connector, but mine has nothing attached to that connector, and has a PCI video card and PCI SCSI controller, both working fine...

Reply 6 of 6, by TheMobRules

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Shaina wrote:

I also notice on the old AT PSUs, they have like, two inputs for power cords, one with the prongs, and one for prongs to be inserted into it. What's the difference between them? Are they both needed or only one?

The outlet with the prongs is for the mains power cable, just like in any modern power supply. The other one is a passthrough for the monitor, but there's no need to use it, it was common back then to connect the monitor there instead of plugging it to the wall socket.