Motherboard for 233MMX Socket 7: Suggestions?

[Brangwen]

Hi:

Thinking about rebuilding 233MMX Pentium system. Old board is a PCChips Model M571LMR, all-in-one TXProII Chipset. No USB unless purchased as part of a plug-into-a-PCI-slot "expansion" card. Given the unreliability of this board for its previous owner, and the lousy reviews I've seen on the Web, I'd really like to locate a decent board for this chip. And preferably an ATX board. Any recommendations? A (decent) mobo for a Socket 7 seems to be a difficult board to locate! I'm wondering if it's worth it at all...

Thx!

Brangwen http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif



[This message has been edited by Brangwen (edited 02-12-2001).]

[big_block_buick]

do you want to upgrade the cpu in the future.if so what kind of cash do you want to spend.i'm using a p233mmx@286 on a dfi k6bv3 BAT motherboard.but it can take k6's to 550 it costs about 75.oo

[Brangwen]

Big_Block_Buick:

I'm really wondering now that I'm having such a tough time locating a decent board for this $45 chip. Can you tell me where to find your mobo on the Web?

Thx!

Brangwen http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[Nighthawk]

If you want ATX, EPoX and ASUS have good things said about them. They have some headroom, but the Socket-7 format is really dead.

I'd highly reccomend just going with an athlon or thunderbird. Your RAM will need to be upgraded, but you'd need a video card anyway. The motherboard will cost a little extra, but you will have many more options in the future.

[big_block_buick]

check www.pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com) i bought mine from tccomputers.there is lots of ss7 boards still out there.dont go for the cheaper fic va503.as i was steered away from it,thanks to peter ..and all i see is postings with problems...you could go for a asus p5ab it will take a 233mmx.as well it goes over 100mhz fsb.."i think"..

[daverme]

If you go to www.tccomputers.com (http://www.tccomputers.com) or www.aberdeeninc.com (http://www.aberdeeninc.com) (and there are many others), you can find a Socket-7 mobo, new, that will satisfy your immediate needs and have pleny of headroom should you decide to upgrade later. I have a Tyan S1598 and it works just fine with an AMD 550 MHz processor.

Now, I don't know (nor do I want to know) what your financial situation is but if you can spring for more than just a mobo, by all means do it. To minimize cost, go with a Duron or a Celeron; many mobos that support Duron will also support Athlon, should you decide to upgrade later. These days, 233 MHz is just not very fast. Mt grandchildren each have a 200 MHz machine and I'm giving serious consideration to upgrading each of them cuz I just can't stand to work on such a slow machine when they need help.

[daverme]

Affimative on the VA503+.

[big_block_buick]

lol dave..speed sure is addictive.its like going from cable to a phone modem eh.

[nunyadam]

brangwen,
what do you want for the old board? i could use it to flash a bio's on a pc chips board i have.

[Brangwen]

NunyAdam:

Contact me at my e-mail address. You provide postage and I'll let you have it!

Everyone else who responded:

I appreciate (sincerely) all of your suggestions. My "regular" or "daily use" computer is a PIII with 256MB of PC133 (CS2) SDRAM sitting on an Abit board, etc. My backup computer is a Celly with a Biostar and lots of PC100 SDRAM. The computer I'm attempting to refurbish (the 233MMX) is one of a couple that I'm attempting to rescue to provide computers to others: some less fortunate in a monetary sense, others less in need of speed than I, e.g., something with which to e-mail family, surf the Web, or print a few letters. Some folks, as you all know, are a bit intimidated by computers, and I gain great satisfaction, and I believe they do as well, when I introduce them to the world of computing. I sent my 80 year old mother-in-law a Pentium 75MHz Gateway a year ago, set her up with the Internet, and she's thrilled daily by the wealth of info, and resources, and staying in touch with others around the country. From her perspective, it's a P4! Like when we graduated from Tandy 10MB HD machines (with monochrome monitors!) to 386MHz machines (they flew) to 486MHz DX4 systems (like horses), then Pentiums (wow), etc. So, that's my situation in a nutshell. Just trying to get some life out of a 233MMX for which I already have a box with a power supply, a HD, a CD-ROM, monitor and plenty of SDRAM.

Now I'll review your generous suggestions!

Thx.

Brangwen http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif



[This message has been edited by Brangwen (edited 02-12-2001).]

[nunyadam]

brangwen
were thinking the same on this .what you have described above is what i like to do .
i am working on an upgrade for my father in-law
he say's thing's too dang slow(p-100),and he's only had it since a little before christmas.
my wife want's a new one like mine. she has a k6-2 500mhz(mine is a duron 700@950).
thank goodness AMD is replacing my bad duron 600.
i just keep building what i can come up with in parts,and passing them along to those who need them.
i even get some back from people who have moved on to better cpu's ,and i just send them out again.(or use them for part's)
now if i could just get them all to crack rc5 for me.

[Brangwen]

Nunyadam:

I know. I have a closet and a good portion of my dining room table covered with computer parts! And under my desk! Cables, jumpers, fans, PSs, 2X CDROMs, FDs, monitors, etc., much to my wife's chagrin! And I visit the local dump and/or yardsales and gather more! I'm addicted!

Brangwen http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

PS: My e-mail is in my profile if you want that mobo, rom chip, or whatever. Write for arrangements if you desire.

[nunyadam]

e-mail sent.

[Peter M]

The 571LMR is actually a pretty good board, provided you know how to handle it.

USB is there - you can use a standard 2x4 USB slot bracket thingie as with all BAT mainboards, or you can use PC-Chips's own "ATX form card" which is a four-in-one slot bracket for 2x USB, mouse, and IR connectors. The latter is $8 or so.

You also got 10/100 LAN, 3D 4-channel PCI sound with an actually working HSP modem engine, and integrated 2D graphics on it. That makes for a well fast enough web-browse-o-matic or home office box. All the stuff has Linux support (including the modem!), so it's nice for that as well.

Give it a try - most of the time I find that those people who curse and swear about those all-in-ones just didn't manage to get them set up right. I use them a lot, and none of those who got what I built came back to bite my head off http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

So please do ask for assistance if you want.

Regards, Peter

[FoolishDave]

Nice Soyo AT mb for 233MMX Pentium, K6-2 up to 366. $17 http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SY-5EAS

[bdunn]

I agree with Peter on this one as I have setup a number of systems on this platform.

My personal favourite of the budget boards though is the Shuttle HOT591P.

[Richard_Cranium72]

Looks like I'm too late, the fire is out http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Oh Well.. I'll put it up anyway, here's a very nice board also with on-board vid/sound for the system builder up to 133mhz FSB

Soyo 5SSM 5 Sockt 7 Motherboard w/ Vnd, Snd
Price: $76.99


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=S450-1040

[Brangwen]

Richard_Cranium72:

I saw your post and I'll not even look at that board... for now! When I next require and/or desire a Socket 7 mobo, or am asked to recommend one, I shall search out your post. I invariably see BETTER products, i.e., those I always seem to miss, AFTER I've agonized and made a purchase. But thanks! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Brangwen http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[araaraara]

Heeellloooooo Anybody heard of EBAY?

[Brangwen]

Peter, Fooolishdave, bdunn et al:

Thanks for your suggestions and offers of assistance. I promise to take you up on those offers! After much thought, and considering that PCChips board I have is dead, in addition to the features I'm looking for in light of ANY future upgrading of the modest 233MXX, I chose the SOYO SY-5EMAPRO SOCKET-7 motherboard. Here are its specs:

Processor Interface - Socket 7
Supported Processors: Intel Pentium/Pentium with MMX, AMD K5/K6/K6-2/K6-3, Cyrix 6x86/6x86L/6x86MX

Chipset: ETEQ 82C6638/6629
On-Board Cache: 512KB

Supported FSB Settings: 0/66/75/83/100/112/124 MHz

Supported Memory Types: SDRAM/EDO/FP
Memory Expansion Slots: 3 DIMM
Max. Supported Memory 768MB
AGP Expansion Slot: 1
32-Bit PCI Expansion Slots: 5
16-Bit ISA Expansion Slots: 2
Shared Expansion Slot(s): 1 PCI / 1 ISA
On-Board Controllers: 2 Ultra ATA/33/66, up to 4 IDE devices, 1 Floppy

On-Board Connectors: 2 USB, 1 PS/2 Keyboard, 1 PS/2 Mouse, 2 Serial, 1 Parallel

On-Board Headers: 1 IrDA
Form Factor: ATX
Board Dimensions:' 30.5 cm x 19 cm (12" x 7.5")
Power Supply Connector(s): ATX

BIOS: Award Plug and Play, DMI, Green, 1Mbit Flash ROM
Hardware Monitoring: Yes
Power Management: Yes
Driver CD Included: Yes

Manufacturer Part Number: SY-5EMAPRO

Descisions, descisions...

Well, I'll let you know how it runs. Again, thanks to everyone who posted a reply.

Brangwen http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif


[This message has been edited by Brangwen (edited 02-13-2001).]

[Richard_Cranium72]

Brangwen , If you're planning on using a aftermarket video card, there is NO reason to pay more for one like I posted.

I differ in opinion of those who say on-board video and sound is ****, I've built both.

For what I use the machine for and the vast majority of people who I build them for all the extra video/sound cards just add up to more money, and configure problems.

One guy even took back a 3dfx Voodoo 3-2000 PCI 16mb card, the difference in game play with Falcon 3.0 in contrast to his on-board 8mb was not visible to him.

Back to the old question,, Ford or Chevrolet, your choice.

and,
araaraara,
YUP,,, sure have.

DrVette

[Brangwen]

Thanks, Dr. Vette. Your opinions I have always valued since joining SysOpt in November of '99.

Brangwen http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif