It looks like... some sort of motherboard. Slot 1, not Slot A, from the orientation of each of the slots' keys. Definitely not Slot 2.

I don't think we'll get much more out of a 227x253 blur like that.

Assuming the image hasn't been flipped then that's BTX, which must narrow it down a touch?

BTX seems a bit late for Slot1 (or even Slot2).

Dell PowerEdge 2400 mainboard. Yes, frankly enough, it seems to be BTX, or at least a predecesor of it.

PcBytes wrote on 2025-01-06, 15:46:

Dell PowerEdge 2400 mainboard. Yes, frankly enough, it seems to be BTX, or at least a predecesor of it.

Thank you, legend.

According to the manual it supports Pentium III.

I'll get it and see if it works!

It arrived!

It seems it was stored for a long time. It has some minor damage. Someone removed the battery holder and the buzzer. Other than that I couldn't detect other missing components or critical damage, but it's still a mystery whether it will work or not.

Now I'll have to get one of those pseudo-ATX Dell PSUs with a different wiring, or maybe create an adapter. What do you recommend? I'm guessing it needs a lot of current with all those chips onboard.

I'm surprised that it has what it looks to be an x86 CPU in its own right (GC80960RM100) soldered on. I assume it's part of the chipset. Does anybody have more info on what it actually does?

tauro wrote on 2025-01-08, 21:37:

I'm surprised that it has what it looks to be an x86 CPU in its own right (GC80960RM100) soldered on. I assume it's part of the chipset. Does anybody have more info on what it actually does?

Intel i960, seems like part of SCSI subsystem on board

tauro wrote on 2025-01-08, 21:37:

I'm surprised that it has what it looks to be an x86 CPU in its own right (GC80960RM100) soldered on. I assume it's part of the chipset. Does anybody have more info on what it actually does?

80960 is completely different to x86. I think it's RISC. Can't comment on what it's being used for here, other than maybe cost cutting 😀

Probably part of a RAID controller.

Gotta remember, chips fit inside packages.

The package can look the same, but contain completely different chips.

This package looks similar to the slot 1 celerons or 423 p4s but obviously isn't.

Same as you can't accurately guess what is in an atx case by looking at the outside. It could be anything.

tauro wrote on 2025-01-08, 21:37:

Now I'll have to get one of those pseudo-ATX Dell PSUs with a different wiring, or maybe create an adapter. What do you recommend? I'm guessing it needs a lot of current with all those chips onboard.

Be careful.

Apparently, this [1] works (have not tested myself) and may or may not be the same as what was used in consumer grade pseudo-ATX Dell PSUs.

[1]
https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversatio … 4ccf8a8de01ce26

Tiido wrote on 2025-01-09, 11:10:

Probably part of a RAID controller.

Yep, it's a general-purpose CPU purposed to do parity calculations for large, complicated (RAID 5 or 6) RAID arrays on the SCSI bus.

The motherboard chipset looks like a Serverworks IIILE chipset - no AGP, hopelessly buggy IDE, but huge memory bandwidth and big PCI buses. Also onboard RageXL PCI, for what that's worth.

Great board for a retro server or non-graphical workstation. Just don't use the IDE, not even for a CD drive. Sort of echoes the old CMD640 😉

It's indeed an i960, I didn't know about them. It was Intel's attempt at creating a RISC processor. It has such an interesting story. Just an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Myers tried to convince Intel management to market the i960 (then still known as the "P7") as a general-purpose processor, both in place of the Intel 80286 and i386 (which taped-out the same month as the first i960), as well as the emerging RISC market for Unix systems, including a pitch to Steve Jobs for use in the NeXT system. Myers was unsuccessful at convincing Intel management to support the i960 as a general-purpose or Unix processor, but the chip found a ready market in early high-performance 32-bit embedded systems.

Now about the PSU:

darry wrote on 2025-01-09, 21:02:

Be careful. […]
Show full quote

Be careful.

Apparently, this [1] works (have not tested myself) and may or may not be the same as what was used in consumer grade pseudo-ATX Dell PSUs.

[1]
https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversatio … 4ccf8a8de01ce26

Thank you very much for that!

I checked the GND pins for the 24-pin connector on the board and they match. I don't know how I could confirm the other pins are right but it looks promising.

I found this which coincides with the pinout you linked:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240916103400/ht … su_pinout.shtml

But there's also the 16-pin connector (P2). I checked it with a multimeter and there's no continuity between any of its pins and any of the 24-pin ATX connector pins. Furthermore there's no continuity between any of its own pins. So I'd need a bit of help with that. Should I just leave it alone and try to start the motherboard with the 24-pin connector only? What about the pinout from the website I linked?

This is the visual representation of what I have so far (I'm ignoring the "TFSC"):

I have to get this straight before creating the adapter because it will take a lot of soldering and I want to do it a single time.

dionb wrote on 2025-01-09, 21:51:

The motherboard chipset looks like a Serverworks IIILE chipset - no AGP, hopelessly buggy IDE, but huge memory bandwidth and big PCI buses. Also onboard RageXL PCI, for what that's worth.

RageXL PCI is not bad for regular DOS / 2D Windows games I suppose. If I get it to work I'll do some tests with better PCI video cards.

dionb wrote on 2025-01-09, 21:51:

Great board for a retro server or non-graphical workstation. Just don't use the IDE, not even for a CD drive. Sort of echoes the old CMD640 😉

Thanks for the heads up! After I read what you wrote I looked for the IDE interface and... I couldn't find any though! 🤣

tauro wrote on 2025-01-10, 22:56:

[...]

Thanks for the heads up! After I read what you wrote I looked for the IDE interface and... I couldn't find any though! 🤣

I thought the blue connector next to the 50p SCSI was IDE, but seems I can't count and it's floppy. Dell did the sensible thing and didn't even implement it 😀

Also, my eyes are going and it's a Rage IIC, not RageXL.