VXPRO

[grumpy903]

Need jumper setting or manual for installing
a amd k-6 300 on a vxpro board Help

[Susan]

..

[This message has been edited by Susan (edited 10-18-99).]

[Susan]

If you already have the board up and running, write down the BIOS Post number at boot up that is on the bottom left hand of your screen. You can then cross reference that # at www.ping.be/bios . You will then be able to go the the manufacturers website and print out a manual.

If you have problems finding it, someone here may be able to help further. Just post back.

[Peter M]

Hi!

Neither the original VXpro board M537 nor the later VXpro+ M537DMA33 have the voltage regulators to drive a K6-2. Forget it.

The VXpro, being old enough to not even have switching voltage regulators, ends at around 7.5 to 8 Ampères. Don't go above 200 MHz with that one.

With the VXpro+, using the latest BIOS, a Cyrix MII-300 2.9V 66 MHz 3.5x is the fastest you can put in there.

Regards, Peter

[Symes]

Peter,

I know you are extremely knowledgeable in all things PCChips but on this question I beg to differ, I hope you don't mind me saying so but the VX-PRO+ (M537DMA) CAN drive some K6-2s.

The regulator and rectifier parts (can't remember the part numbers off the top of my head)are, as I recall, 10A parts on this board. The AMD K6 technical information shows that a 350Mhz part would require 9.85A at 2.2V.

The latest BIOS 04/30/98 will also correctly detect a K6-2 as a "K6 3D" CPU, although it will not activate the CXT core fully (need setk6 or similar).

I myself use a K6-2/350 overclocked to 412.5 on an M537DMA and have done so for a number of months now without any problems. I know others personnaly and via email who have similarly used K6-2s.

It is true however, that they will not be able to operate with the latest versions of the K6-2 or K6-3s as the power demanded is too great.

Grumpy - if you have a VX-Pro+ then you might like to look at the information on my site www.zarniwoop.force9.co.uk

Regards to all,

Symes

[Peter M]

Hi Symes,

I remember what you did to your M537+ :-)

A few words on the site you linked to:

You say there that it'll probably be safe to run the K6 at 2.5V. IT IS NOT. "Absolute Maximum Rating" in a data sheet refers to the voltage above which physical damage WILL occur. The operating range is defined with regulator center point (what you adjust by jumper) at 2.2V, floating 0.1V up or down during operation. No more no less. Running at higher voltage also increases amperage dramatically, leveraging the voltage regulator limitation even more.

Fiddling with the voltage regs isn't too good an idea either, as these also have their operating ranges. Older switching regulators give bad regulation quality at lower voltages.

It might work for you, but the next one to try is very likely to fry something, or at least not get it to work. That's why I said "doesn't work", and recommended something that works out-of-the-box and is officially allowed by the mainboard maker.

The VXpro+ is VIA's VPX/97 - your FAQ says VP1. The VXpro is the VP1. And the VPX/97 does support 64MBit SDRAM officially, at least VIA's data sheet says so (8x8 type only). 8x8 type is the most common one, btw. It does not support 128-MBit technology, so your highest bet are 128-MByte double-sided DIMMs with 16 SDRAM chips on.

Mixing SDRAM and EDO is not a question of limiting speed. Each bank has its individual timing. The problem is that EDO RAM drives 5V signals onto the common memory data lines. However most SDRAMs are not 5V tolerant on their data lines, and might get fried over time.

Regards, Peter

[Symes]

Peter,

I take your point, pushing individual components to the edges (or outside!) of their operating ranges will always provide varying results and success in one case cannot be a guarantee of a complete solution.

I completely agree with your 'out of the box' comments and for anyone who is depending upon their system functioning as near as 100% as possible then they really need to stick to your recommendation. As you say the maximum voltage will work, it's just that damage can be expected i.e. don't think that a K6-2 running at 2.5V will last forever!

Thanks for the confirmation regarding the memory and chipsets, if you have no objections I'll cut and paste your words into the FAQ section and get it right this time!

Incidently I notice that PCChips boards don't seem to have quite the poor reputation on this board that they once did... certainly the new LMR boards attract some good words from a variety of respondents - might even try one myself!

Regards,

Symes.

[Peter M]

Hi again,

of course you're welcome to correct your FAQ using my hints. Maybe you add a pointer to the PC-Chips section of Wim's BIOS pages (maintained, amongst others, by guess-who :-) ...

Regarding their current boards, I just had hands on their ultra-low-cost M571LMR. See the brief in "User Reviews".

As for the reputation: I've not once had a PC-Chips product that failed on me while being run within its components' specified parameters - and I've used quite a lot of them. I still wait for even the oldest ones to start getting flaky.

Most PC-Chips rants, left aside those few who actually got sold a broken unit, boil down to the people not getting them set up right - admittedly, the manuals are terse, no instructions, just facts, and the higher the component count on the board, the more nasty hidden pitfalls are there to tap into during installation if you don't know exactly what you are doing and how to do it ...

Regards, Peter

[sg]

i am not sure about k6's, but be careful with M2's.
I recently had an experience with an M537 board (VxPro) and a M537+ (VxPro+).
I installed a Cyrix M2-333. I tried to run it at its rated speed (3.5x75=250MHz).
After a few hours the pc froze, and would not reboot. If I left the PC turned off for a few hours I could turn it back on. But then I couldn't turn it back on unless I let more hours pass.
Funny thing is the M537+ ran perfectly for several days at (3x75=225=PR266). Both boards now appear stuffed!

[Peter M]

Hi sg,

maybe you should have used your calculator beforehand. 3.5x75 = 262 MHz, and that incredibly rare IBM made MII-333 type very probably isn't what you have. The more usual MII-333 3.0x83 can't be used on either the M537 nor the M537+ for the lack of 83 MHz bus speed.

The M537's voltage regulators aren't strong enough for an MII-300 3.5x66 either, while the M537+ will feed that one in a stable and reliable way.

So you probably fried the M537 with constant overload. Also 2.9V Cyrix processors aren't too overclock tolerant, as they produce close to their allowable heat when clocked at their rated speeds.

Regards, Peter

[buitenb]

hi
peter i have a dfi p5v3+ a rockstable board
running a k62 350 at 450 with 2,7 volts and extreme cooling but one question the maximum
fsb is 100 mhz i cant find any setting or softfsb program to raise the fsb
if you know some tricks or programs i hope so.
jakob buitenhuis http://www.betuwe.net/~buitenb/

[Peter M]

(1) Got a new topic? Start a new thread, please.

(2) As you might have noticed, I'm _NOT_ into overclocking, exactly the opposite. First step for you would be to find out if the clock generator chip on your board is even capable of producing other frequencies than those mentioned in the manual. How to set them then is step 2.

Regards, Peter

[sg]

Hello Peter,

The Cyrix chip used on the vxpro board (M537) was in fact a "gold" faced one which had 3.5x75 written on the face. After the M537 board became stuffed (will only turn on after several hours rest), this same chip was tested on the vxpro+ board and ran fine for several days at 3x75.

The chip was then replaced with a NEW M2-333 with a black face which had 3x83 written on it. But since 83MHz was not in the "pamphlet" that came with the M'B I thought to run it at 3.5x75; the same as the label on the 1st chip. So I suppose this was an (unwitting) overclock for this chip (262.5 MHz c.f. 250 MHz).

Since then I discovered my M537+ M'B DOES have 83MHz printed on the M'B - so maybe it would have worked ...

Thankyou for your response. I don't fancy resoldering the voltage regulator circuits. Off to buy a new S7 M'B (or 2) that still takes 72-pin mem (SDRAM prices have quadrupled here in Oz recently). FIC VA-503+ ...

Regards, Sebastian

PS should I have started a new thread? I'm new to this. The topic title IS "VXPRO".

[This message has been edited by sg (edited 10-23-1999).]

[Peter M]

Hi!

Not you, sg, should have started a new thread. "buitenb" was talking about something else.

Back to yours. So you actually got the rare type MII-333. Your M537's voltage regulator chip probably has died, if not, it might have come loose from its soldering due to massive overheat. It's only three solder points, give it a try.

Your M537+ might have worked at 83 MHz (even with 33 MHz PCI, the VXpro+ can do that!), would certainly have been worth a try. The 2.9V MII are very delicate on overclocking damage, the extra 12.5 MHz might have been too much.

Regards, Peter

[buitenb]

no i dont wanna start a new tread because
my pll ic wont support higher then 100 mhz
zo i am not lucky

jakob buitenhuis