FIC VA-503+ optimal BIOS settings?

[ObviousMan]

I've searched around and found some conflicting info on optimal settings for VA-503+
I've justed installed new K2+ 450@500 (I will not take it higher) 2.0V and wanted to see if I could tweak BIOS for optimal performace.
Memory is Kingston DRAM and Sandra is reporting it CAS2

I'm pretty sure, reliable info has been posted, so if someone could point me in the right direction (read LINKS), I'd appreciate.

 

[fatboy]

Nope the FIC 503+ is a piece of crap. I have one with a 450 on it rite now that will only do 400 for some stupid reason. Good thing its only a spare computer or I really mite have kick'd across the room.

I generally only run intel but I bought this to see what all the rage was about AMD and was not impressed one bit.


fatboy!

 

[Praxis]

The VA-503+ is a fine board. I've built 4 computers on the board and they are all solid work horses, still doing yeoman service. You can still occasionally find the 503+ on sale at Fry's for $69 with a K6-3 333 and it makes a good budget upgrade for someone with an AT case and 64+ MB of EDO RAM. Right now I'm using a 503+ with a K6-2 450 running at spec (I don't see the point of overclocking the 10% or so that most folks can squeeze out of the K6s). People trash FIC, but I just put a Maxtor 45 gig hard drive in this beast. I needed to flash a new BIOS, but at least FIC supported its product enough to provide the BIOS. A couple of weeks ago I had to use an overlay to get an Asus P5A to accept a 45 gig IBM Deskstar, even after flashing the latest BIOS.

Here is the MVP3 BIOS Guide, which is not a bad place to begin, though I would disagree with some of its recommendations. For instance, I think you should probably disable BIOS shadowing & caching. So maybe you should look at The BIOS Optimization Guide as well.

I used to have an inferiority complex about using AMD and Cyrix CPUs until I bought a wildly overpriced Pentium III 500 and it was my turn to not be impressed one bit.

 

[ObviousMan]

Thanks Praxis,
I'm running it at 500 because I can. K6-2+ is on .18 platform, so it runs very cool. It's nowhere close to pushing it, but helps for playing DVD and Divx After all, real OC'ers push it to 560 or 600 🙂
I'm not going into Intel vs overs debate, but I have never run an Intel in my home PC (Cyrix DLC40, AMD DX4 100, AMD K6 266, AMD K6-2+ 450)
I am totally on board in terms of where it can be used. This board has been in this old AT box for 3 years, getting a new CPU in it just gives it another 18 months of life (AFAIC) For $40 With the latest BIOS, etc. I hope to tweak it moderately (just spend as little time as I can) and let it run. I agree, FIC is decent in terms of supporting the products. That latest BIOS came out more than 2.5 years later than the board was released.

Thanks again.
OM