are there modern motherboards with ISA slots for *AMD* processors?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dan Lenski
  • Start date Start date
[...]>I notice arstech also mentions powering, and I notice in the pinout
for the ISA connector, there is a pin available for -5V. On modern ATX
power supplies, -5V has been removed, and you'd find one pin on
the ATX connector that is not being used. That would be where the
-5V used to be. Now, there isn't a strong reason to be using
that rail. It might be convenient for something like wiring up ECL
chips. Or perhaps some of the really old DRAM technologies. So that might
be an item to check as well.
Click to expand...

[...]

Back in the day, the -5V was often used in UARTs. If the OP's custom cardis
*that* old and relies on serial communication devices that are not single,
positive input voltage, that could be a problem requiring resolution...
Click to expand...


.... not too hard to provide the -5v from a regulated wallwart though,
if necessary


NT
 
[...]>I notice arstech also mentions powering, and I notice in the pinout
for the ISA connector, there is a pin available for -5V. On modern ATX
power supplies, -5V has been removed, and you'd find one pin on
the ATX connector that is not being used. That would be where the
-5V used to be. Now, there isn't a strong reason to be using
that rail. It might be convenient for something like wiring up ECL
chips. Or perhaps some of the really old DRAM technologies. So that might
be an item to check as well.
Click to expand...

[...]

Back in the day, the -5V was often used in UARTs. If the OP's custom card is
*that* old and relies on serial communication devices that are not single,
positive input voltage, that could be a problem requiring resolution...
Click to expand...


... not too hard to provide the -5v from a regulated wallwart though,
if necessary
Click to expand...

Well, other than cobbling up some way to connect that wall-wart to the
internally located card, there's also the potential problem of power rail
sequencing during power-up/power-off cycles, if any of the multi-voltage parts
are sequence-sensitive...

Cheers
 
[...]>I notice arstech also mentions powering, and I notice in the pinout
for the ISA connector, there is a pin available for -5V. On modern ATX
power supplies, -5V has been removed, and you'd find one pin on
the ATX connector that is not being used. That would be where the
-5V used to be. Now, there isn't a strong reason to be using
that rail. It might be convenient for something like wiring up ECL
chips. Or perhaps some of the really old DRAM technologies. So that might
be an item to check as well.
[...]
Back in the day, the -5V was often used in UARTs. If the OP's custom card is
*that* old and relies on serial communication devices that are not single,
positive input voltage, that could be a problem requiring resolution....
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
... not too hard to provide the -5v from a regulated wallwart though,
if necessary
Click to expand...

Well, other than cobbling up some way to connect that wall-wart to the
internally located card, there's also the potential problem of power rail
sequencing during power-up/power-off cycles, if any of the multi-voltage parts
are sequence-sensitive...

Cheers
Click to expand...

You could use the built in pc psu to control the -5v reg.


NT
 
Dan said:
And that's it... basically only one vendor, and only one processor
family supported. I haven't found any others that support AMD
processors at all. No Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3/F. Does anyone know of any
motherboards for modern AMD processors that have ISA slots? Is there
any technical impediment to producing one... such as lack of chipset
support?
Click to expand...


I'd say no, there may not be a technical impediment to building one,
just a marketing impediment. Since AMD's marketshare is smaller than
Intel's, the diversity in motherboard featureset is smaller too.

Yousuf Khan
 
I'd say no, there may not be a technical impediment to building one,
just a marketing impediment. Since AMD's marketshare is smaller than
Intel's, the diversity in motherboard featureset is smaller too.

Yousuf Khan
Click to expand...

Well, ok, but what difference does it make when the demand is virtually zero?

Cheers
 
daytripper said:
Well, ok, but what difference does it make when the demand is virtually zero?

Cheers
Click to expand...

Well, that's exactly the point, when the demand is nearly zero, the
demand is closer to zero for AMD boards than it would be for Intel boards.

Yousuf Khan
 
Well, that's exactly the point, when the demand is nearly zero, the
demand is closer to zero for AMD boards than it would be for Intel
boards.

Yousuf Khan
Click to expand...

That's true... and back in the dinosaur days when ISA slots were
prevalent, Intel was the only serious game in town for x86 processors.

Now, AMD has a substantial share, and its products are seen as
competitive with Intel's in a variety of market segments.

But probably any system that has an ISA slot and needs to be upgraded
originally had an Intel processor...

Dan
 
Dan said:
That's true... and back in the dinosaur days when ISA slots were
prevalent, Intel was the only serious game in town for x86 processors.

Now, AMD has a substantial share, and its products are seen as
competitive with Intel's in a variety of market segments.

But probably any system that has an ISA slot and needs to be upgraded
originally had an Intel processor...
Click to expand...


I don't think that's the problem, AMD was around making processors when
ISA was prevalent too. It's just that when ISA was prevalent, AMD was
making an earlier generation of processors, and so was Intel. So unless
you want to buy one of those earlier generation systems, everyone has
moved on from there. With Intel's larger marketshare motherboard makers
can afford to create more specialized boards for them that have
anachronistic interfaces on them.

Yousuf Khan
 
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