Tyan S1598C2 (or S1598) Questions

[chucky2]

I'm going to be taking my uncle's old PC which is based on a Tyan S1598C2 and be putting in a K6-3+ 450 (probably overclocked to 550 or 600 MHz), 256 MB of RAM, a 15GB ATA-66 hard drive, a DVD burner (probably an LG one), and Windows XP SP2 slipstreamed.

I'll be running the 1.06e BIOS.

Have 2 questions for those that have experience with this motherboard:

1.) Anyone ever ran a 256 MB memory stick in one of these? What about 2 256MB memory sticks (512MB RAM total)? Just wondering how far someone has taken one of these boards with memory. Theoretically, it should be able to take up to 768MB of SDRAM.

2.) Anyone ever tried burning a DVD with this board, or even with a highend K6-3, K6-2+, and/or K6-3+? Just wondering if it's general knowledge that these chips won't do it period, or if people haven't had any problems.

Thanks everyone for any info, I appreciate it!

Chuck

 

[chucky2]

I stupidly just realized I have a 256MB stick of Crucial PC133 CAS 2 in my girlfriends box, so I stuck it in there and the board did boot fine - into a DOS prompt, I don't have Windows XP installed yet.

I also had 2 sticks of Mushkin PC100 CAS 2 sitting around, so I stuck one and then both of them in there with the stick of Crucial.

With the stick of Crucial and one stick of Mushkin, the PC booted correctly and to the DOS prompt.

With the stick of Crucial and both sticks of Mushkin, the PC booted to the DOS prompt, but when it POSTed and in DOS, it only saw 384MB of memory, so it looks like it didn't see the other stick.

Both sticks of Mushkin worked in the board correctly when the Crucial was pulled, so the Mushkin (as is the Crucial) memory was functioning correctly.

Too bad I didn't have a stick of single sided memory that was 128MB...I bet with the stick of Crucial, one stick of Mushkin, and a stick of single sided 128MB it would have ID'd the correct amount of RAM.

Oh well, no big deal...just posting this back here in the hopes it'll help someone down the road...

Chuck

 

[Peter]

The RAM needs to be made from "16Mx8" geometry SDRAM, 128-Mbit technology. 16 of these make for a double-sided 256-MByte stick, which is the largest supported by the VIA chipset on this board. Single-sided 128-MByte, as long as it's made from 8 chips not 4, will work just as well.

 

[chucky2]

Thanks Peter for the explanation!

If I get the time, I'm going to try and find a 128MB stick of extremely cheap single-sided SDRAM and see if it'll work.

Who knew after all this time I'd still be messing with the K6 platform...

Chuck

 

[tcsenter]

If I get the time, I'm going to try and find a 128MB stick of extremely cheap single-sided SDRAM and see if it'll work.

Be careful. Extremely cheap implies 32Mx4 or 32Mx8 DRAM, which the VIA MVP3 doesn't support.

PC100/PC133 modules composed of 16Mx8 DRAM are significantly more expensive these days, since supply has slowed to a trickle. A new 256MB module composed of 16Mx8 DRAM regularly sells for more than $50.00.

e.g.

$57.00 from Upgrade Solution

$55.00 from AIB

$60.00 from PC Wonder

I have resorted to getting used modules on Ebay from a reputable seller offering a DOA guarantee. Around $20 for 128MB and $35 for 256MB.

 

[Peter]

You can't make a 128-MByte DIMM from 32Mx4 or 32Mx8 technology - since you have to make it x64 total width, you'll end up with 256 MBytes

128-MByte DIMMs come with 8Mx8 tech (double sided), 16Mx4 (looks double sided but isn't), 16Mx8 (single sided), and 16Mx16 (single sided, four chips). Only the latter doesn't work with the MVP3 chipset.

True, 128-Mbit SDRAM is no longer made in high quantities, and prices have been climbing. 8Mx8 and 16Mx4 were 64-Mbit chips, and have been gone for even longer.

 

[tcsenter]

You can't make a 128-MByte DIMM from 32Mx4 or 32Mx8 technology - since you have to make it x64 total width, you'll end up with 256 MBytes

Quite right!

I was thinking of modules made with 4 - 16Mx16 chips.

 

[chucky2]

Thanks everyone for the information! Got a cash shortage now, so the testing will have to wait...but maybe in a month or three I'll be able to buy one of these sticks and test it out.

Thanks again everyone! Great information in this thread!

 

[Peter]

In three months they'll be gone. That's a now or never thing.

 

[chucky2]

Time for me to go sell some body resources then...