Too much processor?

[rwest]

It was an sy6vca. But the back looks exact same. Do you know max specs on this board?

[rwest]

Ya' kow I was ready to put about $120 into the system on a processor. I have no problem spending the money on a decent board that will support what my current system has. The problem is making sure it fits the HP case. Would most ATX fit?

With the way prices are, building a high level p3 class is not a bunch of money.

[millwork]

Hello rwest,

Number One Priority: Continue to keep these two comments at the very top of considerations. “My wife’s a teacher and its great for all her applications.” & “…if I screw up and fry something, you won't hear from me anymore. Cuz the wife's gonna bury me!!” With that said, you might be safer to find another box to “tinker” around with. Or, as a minimum, backup her stuff to your new system if you want to upgrade. Her perception is probably, “He gave me that computer and now he wants to play with it himself and I’m going to lose all my work.”

Now. Are you sure there’s something wrong with that SoYo board? The issues you mentioned sound more like settings and/or drivers. Did you do a fresh install of Windows when you changed out the MoBos?

You asked, “Do you know max specs on this board?” I’ve not used one but reviews were pretty favorable at the time. The one negative thing I noticed was it’s production run was very short with only about 9,000 units produced…Hmmmm.

SoYo 6VCA ATX Form Factor
Four layers, 30.5 cm x 20 cm (12" x 7.9")

SoYo lists Slot 1 CPUs up to 133MHz FSB - PIII 533B~800EB Mhz (a PIII-550E was reported to OC stable at 781Mhz and a PIII-600EB at 966Mhz)

FSB Speeds: 66,68,75,80,83,85,90,95,
100,103,105,109,112,114,115,118,120,124,126,129,
133,135,138,140,141,143,145,147,150,154,160,166

3 - 168-pin SDRAM DIMM sockets - up to 1.5GB
5 - 32-bit Bus Mastering PCI slots (v2.2 compliant)
1 - 16-bit ISA slot
1 - Universal AGP slots (support 1x/2x/4x mode)
1 - AMR Connector

"Would most ATX fit?" I don't see why not.

John B.

[rwest]

Millwork I actually had somebody helping me with the install. We should have Known something was wrong when the first format didn't comlete. We tried two or three times to get it to work. At one point we thought the cable might have been bad. The Hard drive would jump as to where it was loaded at, or it wouldn't be recognized at all, or it thought it was the slave. We even went as far as only pluging in the HDD, booted and the mobo show it as a second drive. We kept checking jumpers to see if we screwed up. It's been awhile ago now, but I remember the mobo never showed us what we thought we were supposed to have.

Not sure why only a few were made. Almost all the reviews I read gave it a thumbs up. Maybe it was because via moved on to the KT133 which moved on to DDR ram (I thinK). PIII's weren't really in production long. And I believe the 694 northbrigde was near the end of that era. From that point processor technology just exploded. Could also be SOYO was just late getting it out. I think I read that somewhere.

After reading another post and looking at a few different boards, I think you're right. Pretty much any slot one atx board should fit. I'd have to be careful going with socket 370, due to the limitations of the HP case. Depending on the position I may not have clearance for a cooler.

I didn't have any luck trying to find this board again. But I am looking at an ASUS P3V4X. Know anything about it? Oh, and another one I saw is a Gigabyte GA-6BXC.

[millwork]

I'd have to be careful going with socket 370, due to the limitations of the HP case. Depending on the position I may not have clearance for a cooler.

I didn't have any luck trying to find this board again. But I am looking at an ASUS P3V4X. Know anything about it? Oh, and another one I saw is a Gigabyte GA-6BXC.

Well, if you are talking about those boards with both Socket 370 and Slot 1, you have to be careful. The first generation of Socket 370 only supported 66 MHz FSB. If you are still thinking about one of those Slot 1 to Socket 370 adaptors, yes, you do have to be careful about room for a cooling system. There could also be a cord management issue depending on where the PSU plugs into the board. I don't really care for those adaptors - any of 'em. If you invest in a Slot 1 board with 133 MHz FSB, your limit may be a PIII 933 or 1000/256/133/1.7V S1 - SL4BS - I see them selling for less than $50.00 delivered. I don't think you would see or feel much, if any difference with a socket 370 adaptor and a PIII 1.4 Gig CPU.

The reviews on both those boards looked pretty good, but I've not had one come through here. When shopping for one of those older boards, I check reviews first and then (since most of the reviews are written just after release) I'll monitor their popularity and prices on eBay. If there's lots of bidders and they are selling well, they would seem to be popular. You may also find that BIOS updates have corrected problems disclosed in the original reviews.

Back to what most folks said in the beginning, a different MoBo, CPU and RAM will get you a lot more performance for just a bit more money than we've discussed.

Just another thought about your upgrade desires. Since you need more RAM anyway, it looks like you want to exceed the limitations of a Slot 1 MoBo and there's a need for a newer CPU; might want to just check out prices for P4 Socket 478 or 423 MoBos. DDR 400 MHz memory is cheaper right now than PC100 or 133 and Intel 2.0Ghz P4 based Celeron socket 478 processors are selling for less than $60 delivered. Socket 478 MoBos are selling for $50.00 and up delivered - watch carefully about component placement - you already identified space limitations. If you currently have any ISA cards, can't use them. But chances are any device you currently have plugged into an ISA slot will be on-board a newer MoBo - e.g. 10/100, sound card or what have you. With this setup, even more "tinkering" and upgrades can be done as time and resources permit.

Just continue to keep the "better half" happy - more important than the desire to "tinker" about.

John B.

[millwork]

Ooops. Where I said "...a PIII 1.4 Gig CPU." ment to say "...a Celeron 1.4 Gig CPU."

John B.

[rwest]

Thanks Milwork that was a lot of good info. I think these boards are based on Via's133A chipset. Which does support 100fsb and 133fsb. The really cool part about the chip is that it allows you to run the processor at 133fsb and ram at 100fsb.(also vice versa) I don't know if they have a slot 370 on them.

Actually a good stable slot 1 board that''ll end up running 933mhz is what I'm trying to get to. It's more than enough to keep the wife happy and will still be adequate to play games on. By staying with slot one I can use my current processor and ram. Then still be able to upgrade one item at a time. Once I shoot my wad at a board it'll be a little bit before I can replace the processor and ram. Slot 1 is better for me due to funds. My computer part 'allowance' is minimal at best.

The adapter was really my last resort. My whole reason for the post was to see if buying the adapter was even worth it, if I didn't have the ram to support it. 1.2gig processor and 256mb ram just doesn't soud like a good mix. The bottleneck was the zx chip.

I'm not really into overclocking. I'd rather run things the way they were designed to be run. I belive they will last longer that way. That's pretty much my final reason for not wanting to try two sticks of 256mb in a mobo that says max 256mb. Although It may work. The technology was there when the zx chip came out. Intel just said not to do it on their board.
Lastly, one thing is for sure, I didn't realize the early p4 parts were that cheap. That is an option I really I haven't explored. My only drawback is that I couldn't install one piece at a time. Then I'm still suffering playing games compatable with my 550mhz processor. That may turn into my next project.

BTW you're right! (Her perception is probably, “He gave me that computer and now he wants to play with it himself and I’m going to lose all my work.”) That is why I do all the research and am extremely careful. I also have a pentium in the basement for fry testing.

[millwork]

Hello rwest,

It's all about options, caring and sharing. We all tend to throw bias into the mix and that's not a bad thing if we can recognize the bias. You can tell I favor ASUS boards from that era but, if I were in your shoes, I'd give that SoYo board another shot before investing more $$.

You said, "The Hard drive would jump as to where it was loaded at, or it wouldn't be recognized at all, or it thought it was the slave. We even went as far as only pluging in the HDD, booted and the mobo show it as a second drive. We kept checking jumpers to see if we screwed up." Depending on the HDD itself, still doesn't indicate the main board is primary suspect, to me. The "techno' wizards" here would know better and hope one of them will comment.

At any rate, one could easily drop $300.00 to $400.00 into building a top end PIII or low end PIV system. Many folks would be better off with a new $350.00 Dell including a fairly good monitor. But, what fun is that?

I've enjoyed this thread. related research and have learned from it. Thanks for allowing me to participate.

John B.

[rwest]

That's how I ended up with my newest computer. Paid only $360.00 for AMD64 3200+ venice core. The thing came with one gig of ram. I know its got a cheap dvd burner and the board is propietary, but dam_. The ram and processor alone were worht it. uh oh I gotta go to work.

[rwest]

Millwork your input has been crucial to my learning. I'm really glad you entered my world.
I've learned alot since the last time I tried the 6vca. If I still have it, I may try again. It just hit me the bios may not have been up to date, although the board did come with a 600EB processor. I also was told I would need the 4-in-1 drivers for the board. I asked the guy helping me and he said we could install the drivers after windows loads. Which sounded right. But the problem I had does sound like a driver issue. How would I go about setting up a mobo that needs drivers to operate properly?

[millwork]

I asked the guy helping me and he said we could install the drivers after windows loads. Which sounded right. But the problem I had does sound like a driver issue. How would I go about setting up a mobo that needs drivers to operate properly?

Well, you need storage. That third (spare box in the basement) system has it's own dedicated CDD, HDD (4Gb or more), at least 128Mb RAM and you are testing the SoYo board with XP Home - Right? Confirm that the CDD and HDD are not on the same IDE cable. "Picking nit" but I'm not there to see.

Earlier on, you indicated that at one time, you got the OS to load but HDD's location was changing in BIOS. That sounds like settings to me. I usually connect the HDD to Primary IDE and, depending on the drive, set jumpers to Cable Select then let BIOS detect the drive. Years ago, did have a drive that wanted to be on the Secondary IDE. I suppose your BIOS could be corrupt but I've not personally experienced that kind of issue.

I'd recommend try again with only CDD, HDD and memory installed. Take notes of results and issues and post here what you found. If you cannot get BIOS to recognize the HDD and CDD at all, that's serious. If it seems to be a BIOS issue and it will recognize a Legacy connected FDD there could be hope (notice "and" & "could" are bold). If not, I'd move on to a different board.

If the drives are recognized, regardless of location, but you cannot get the OS to load, start a new thread so the "Tech Wizards" can look over your findings.

Good Luck,

John B.

[rwest]

I must have tossed the 6vca. Oh well. I did appreciate your elaborating on the issue.

Oh and the Os never did fully load. We got to 100% but never started widows. It just sat there saying it would.

I was also wrong about one of the boards I mentioned earlier( I think these boards are based on Via's133A chipset. ). The Asus PC3V4X is based on the VIA133a chipset, the GA-6BXC is based on the BX AGPset. After doing a little looking around(even though BX was king of speed at that time) I found that this board didn't seem to do well at 133. Could just be where I looked too. The Gigabyte board also only suppots AGP 2X whereas the ASUS board supports AGP 4X.

So most likely I'll be putting in the VIA board. This I believe will be the best upgrade path. I'm gonna do some more searching though, I'm sure that's not the only two slot 1 boards that support both pc100 and pc133. I like the ASUS board so far I just want more to compare it too.

BTW the box in my basement is a'whole nother project! I just mention it cuz that's the one I push way outta limits. It shouldn't be running what I got in it!
I only push units I don't use or need. Done for fun.

[Picard]

Just a correction here. A Tualatin Celeron 1.2 GHz can be used with pc100 SDRAM and the powerleap adaptor. The Celerons are spec'ed for 100MHz bus, and are a great value. The powerleap adaptor is not such a great vaule though. I'd say if you wish to use Tualatin processor, buy a compatible board, But, while the processors are still easy to come by, motherboards to support them are not. I've been thinkng of getting one my self for my neices PC, since I have the processor, and her board can't support it, but am hesitant because of the price. I've already looked for motheboards to suppert the Tualatin Processor, but all that are available are VIA chipset based board, and I abhor VIA chipsets. I'd get the powerleap before a VIA board.

[millwork]

Hello Picard,

Yep. Don't care much for VIA chipsets myself, but don't have enough experience to discourage someone from buying a board with one.

Off subject for a moment: Since you seem to be into Tualatin CPUs, can you explain this? The auction went crazy during the last 1/2 hour or so and the price more than doubled. There are New ones out there, but selling for over $300.00 each! What Socket 370 boards support PIII Tualatin 1.4GHz processors other than those old dual CPU servers? I know they have 512KB L2 Cache, but one can get into a lot faster P4 CPU, board and memory for a lot less money.

John B.

[BipolarBill]

The Tualatin had a short run. Only Intel and VIA made chipsets for it. Intel's is the i815EP (the "P" being critical). VIA offered the Apollo PLE133T chipset.

I have no idea why these people don't move on. Motherboards are cheap. Maybe Powerleap is doing the bidding! LOL. Tualatin was dual-CPU capable, BTW/