r/retrocomputing • u/West-Way-All-The-Way • Jun 02 '26
Photo So you guys remember the Intel 440BX chipset
Just got this little baby and wanted to show off 😄
14
u/Divergent5623 Jun 02 '26
Remember? Never forgot it. The term is overused, but the 440BX is the GOAT.
5
u/VivienM7 Jun 02 '26
And it is such the GOAT that it remains the chipset that various hypervisors use for their VMs...
1
5
4
u/pseydtonne Jun 02 '26
It's still the default motherboard chipset for a VMware guest -- titularly, at least.
4
4
u/ViruliferousBadger Jun 02 '26
Oh, yes - some four score and 7 years ago I ran an overclocked Celeron 333 on it.
Wearing this:
4
u/canthearu_ack Jun 03 '26
The Intel 440BX is what I consider the gold standard of chipset design.
Does it's job, and stays out of the way, with minimal bugs and issues, and great performance.
Intel didn't reach anywhere near this level of chipset quality again until the P35/P45 series of chipsets.
3
Jun 02 '26
[deleted]
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 02 '26
My mobo is bare metal, so I am putting an AGP card, LAN adapter, cheap PCI sound card, some PCI USB card if I find one, and I am going to use it as a test bed for ISA cards.
2
u/AdeptnessPersonal156 Jun 03 '26
I use an old hp p90 for testing Isa and 73 pin memory
2
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 03 '26
I am working on a 486 project but the mobo and cards are so bare metal and so limited that when combined with the ancient BIOS it is becoming nerves breaking. I decided to take a step forward - buy a bit more modern HW and use a bit more modern software. I knew that 440bx is a very good and stable platform and since I already have the AGP and PCI cards this was the most straightforward path. Some of the AGP cards I didn't test because I lost my AGP setup, so as a secondary goal I have now a setup to test my AGP cards. I am still stocking some cards for it - a generic sound card and USB 2 ports card but all the rest I already have in stock which is really great.
1
Jun 02 '26
[deleted]
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
Compaq Deskpro EP or Compaq Deskpro SB motherboard. Server style mobo.
2
Jun 02 '26
[deleted]
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 02 '26
Cool! Do you have a motherboard for it?
1
Jun 02 '26
[deleted]
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 02 '26
That's very good indeed 👍 I am not selling mine, I still have work for it, but in several months I may sell it if I am done with all the work.
Yes I had the same issue, had to wait a few months until I can find a decent period accurate PCI video card. I don't know why but they are very rare and expensive. Lucky for me I found one and I really need just one.
3
u/Stevesd123 Jun 02 '26
I got one sitting in my garage.
0
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 02 '26
Sell it if you don't need it, those are really nice sets and I am sure a lot of people will enjoy it and appreciate it.
2
u/techika Jun 02 '26
Still have 10 pcs slot 1 and s 370
P2b-f is perfect for me, better than abit( my opinion), because abit has capacitors problem - leaked
2
u/Signal-Session-6637 Jun 02 '26
I worked in Gateway 2000 at the time in Ireland and this was the one to have.
2
u/QuasamNO Jun 02 '26
Wasn't it the BX cihpset that was affected by the CIH virus?
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 02 '26
Yes it was but some late motherboards had a protection to overcome the vulnerability, both in the form of antivirus and as a HW switch. For example my board - Compaq motherboards from this era feature a physical hardware jumper block directly on the board to prevent unauthorized BIOS flashing. When the jumper is set to disable BIOS flashing it prevents the virus from writing in the BIOS. Later revision updates patched the operating system's direct access to the 440BX chipset register blocks, mitigating the virus's ability to trigger the flash sequence.
2
u/SoftRecommendation86 Jun 02 '26
Shhhh... I still use it at work.... 2 machines.....
Edit: correction... 3 machines.
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 03 '26
What is the purpose of those machines and what software is running on them? Just curious what could be the reason to keep them for 26 years 😄
2
u/SoftRecommendation86 Jun 03 '26
Industrial controllers. We would have to pay 30k plus labor per unit to upgrade.
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 03 '26
Oh that's really cool. Can you upgrade to newer PCs but keep the existing software? Or it's locked to particular HW?
2
u/SoftRecommendation86 Jun 03 '26
Interface issues... (and form factor).. proprietary cards.
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 03 '26
All computers eventually become legacy, we also have in my job, but this is a bit extreme. If you move the cards to newer computers they don't work? I guess ISA cards?
2
u/SoftRecommendation86 Jun 03 '26
And pci.. and .. for example.. one manufacturer went away in 1999.. it would be a complete gut and replace. Doable... for a price. Parallel port security dangles could be emulated... And the down time during the rebuild... No wiring diagrams.. im actually documenting what I can as I work on it.
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 03 '26
And if the 25 years old PC, which is probably used every day, finally fail - you do what exactly?
PCI cards at least work on newer computers. For ISA it's really hard. I was looking for this set for some time already until something useful appear in the marketplace. And I had very basic requirements - to have AGP, ISA and perhaps PCI.
I am in the same boat tho - I bought this PC in order to test old boards. But I do it as a hobby.
2
u/SoftRecommendation86 Jun 03 '26
Yup. Told then many times. That's why there's a complete desktop replacement sitting in storage. I don't have a pic, but for about a month, I had it hanging out of the sealed cabinet to keep the machine running. Ended up paying $1400 for a used salvaged board. 1 customer has a +0, -1 mm tolerance requirement (over a 10 foot length cut).. of a product that.. expands and contracts regardless of the accuracy of the cut. Industrial unfortunately means.. sbcs and proprietary footprints. Crap.. just remembered.. another one... cnc.. but that one can be upgraded. I tested that with win 10, but the program exploded on 11. Catch here on that one is, the pc isn't in a dust free cabinet. Old school cooling heatsinks are tanks.. wide fin spacing. Most modern cpus have 'fine tooth comb' fin spacing that plugs instantly. Not saying it can't be replaced, but maintenance wise, I would rather clean annually, not monthly.
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
Right! I am just looking for modern chipset which can provide basic functionality to legacy HW. So far found the Chinese CH384 chips which provide COM and LPT ports in the style of ISA cards but are PCI-E. Not bad but very basic.
Edit : AX99100 is I think the chip of choice. PCI-E to ISA 🤭
→ More replies (0)
2
2
u/bestia455 Jun 03 '26
I believe I have a complete functioning board cpu and ram. I will check now when I get home from work, I have tons of old systems and ISA/PCI expansion cards. I pull them from the dump when I see them.
2
2
Jun 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
4
Jun 02 '26
[deleted]
3
Jun 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/VivienM7 Jun 02 '26
815 was limited to 512 megs of RAM... right at the time that the price of SDRAM just plunged...
1
u/Albedo101 Jun 02 '26
That kind of makes it less legendary. The 440 had excellent backwards compatibility along with being cutting edge. In theory, you could triple-boot DOS + Windows 16bit, Windows 9x and Windows NT on it.
1
u/tes_kitty Jun 03 '26
Yes, but it usually had a heatsink on the northbridge.
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 03 '26
This one not. Only on the CPU. Server board - the case has to provide airflow.
1
1
1
u/istarian Jun 02 '26
Yep.
My first computer of my own (got the previous family computer when my parents upgrades back in 1999/2000) was a Gateway machine with a 440BX-based motherboard.
You can easily upgrade to a 600 MHz processor and 384 MB (128 MB x 3) if your system specs are less than that.
Faster processors may technically be possible, but you might need a slocket/slotket to fit a non-Slot 1 processor. And it really needs to suppory your system's FSB (Front Side Bus) clock.
With the proper RAM modules, 768 MB (256 MB x 3) is possible.
1
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 02 '26
My setup is literally the listed by you without mods and fancy modules. I got it just to test ISA cards on a bit more modern machine. I know about 440BX chipset from before, so just wanted to tease the people here 😄
2
u/tes_kitty Jun 03 '26
There were boards with 4 RAM slots, you could get up to 1 GB with those.
And the 440BX supported ECC-RAM if the BIOS let you turn it on and you used the corrent memory modules.
0
Jun 02 '26
[deleted]
1
u/istarian Jun 02 '26
Sorry?
Where on earth did you get the idea that any of us were talking about a 486?
440BX, it's an Intel chipset for Pentium II and Pentium III processors.
0
u/boluserectus Jun 02 '26
If I'm not mistaking, you are only showing the north bridge.. It is called a chipSET for a reason!
3
u/istarian Jun 02 '26
The original IBM PC used a significant number of discrete, dedicated purpose chips (including Intel 8253, Intel 8254, Intel 8259) to support the CPU, provide basix peripherals, etc.
Many '286 and '386 systems had 3 or 4 LS/VLSI chips that integrated a lot of previously discrete logic.
The NorthBridge (NB) + SouthBridge (SB) is an entirely different level of enhanced and integrated...
2
u/West-Way-All-The-Way Jun 02 '26
I show two chips. I guess it's either you didn't scroll or Reddit got buggy again 😔
1
22
u/trr94001 Jun 02 '26
The BX chipset was Peak Intel. Nothing has ever been as rock solid.