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Need to verify these MCA cards will work on IBM PS/2 8570

I'd lean more towards an Adaptec AHA-1640 SCSI card, since it has standard 50-pin SCSI cable connections instead of proprietary IBM silliness. The only downside is that it is only a 16bit card.

The 10/100 card doesn't work in standard PS/2 machines and was designed for the RS/6000 servers. It only has drivers for AIX. The only 10/100 adapter that came out for Microchannel was an Olicom brand card. It was pretty lousy as it was only a 16-bit card and was based on a slow ISA chipset. 10BaseT cards from 3Com and the IBM LAN Adapter/A are much better choices.
 
Thanks for the reply. My lack of technical knowledge is killing me. My mobo looks like the one below in the pic attached.

It has 3 MCA slots. Based on my limited reading, it is my understanding that the smaller MCA slot is a 16 bit slot, and that the other 2 are 32-bit slots.

Looks like I can get the IBM board that you mentioned for cheap. However, based on the pins, it does not look like it will fit in any of the slots?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-FRU-48G...71361?pt=US_Server_Boards&hash=item53f35ef1e1

I also have an XGA2 card like the one below?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-87F4774...299?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item3cd5b3312b

next, I have a memory expansion board that looks like the one below. All the memory slots have chips in the, but I am not sure what the total is.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-95F1155...mputing_Parts_Accessories&hash=item232e437189

I also know that I need to check a SCSI adapter so that I can plug in an external CD ROM drive. Alternatively, I would like to know if after I install the SCSI adapter, if I can get an adapter that will connect to the SCSI, that will then allow me to connect to a high capacity SD or CF card.

Here in lies the quandary. Too many cards, too few slots, so I will need to pair down to the following:

1) A Network card
2) The XGA2 card
3) The SCSI card.

But what card goes into what slot, and WHICH cards will I need to get so they will fit in the slots.

Any help is appreciated

Thanks.MB.jpg
 
from left to right on the motherboard.

XGA2, Network, SCSI. The XGA-2 may have to go into the leftmost slot because it has the video expansion pins. This limits it to a 16-bit slot (the card will work on both 16 and 32bit slots), but there isn't much you can do since the Model 70 doesn't have a 32bit slot with the video expansion pins. I'd try it in a 32-bit slot first, if there are video problems, toss it in the 16-bit slot. Don't know if the memory card will fit, you'd have to give up a card to use it anyway. The IBM LAN Adapter/A will work in both 16 and 32bit slots.
 
Thanks for the reply. One follow-up...

What are the ramifications of sticking the XGA in the 16-bit slot vs the 32? Loss of any capability?

Since the network and XGA cards can go in both the 16 and 32-bit slots, would it make more sense to put the network card in the 16 and the XGA in the 32?

Also... what are the negative of the 16-bit SCSI? Are there limitations that would result from using the 32-bit IBM version?
 
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The bandwidth to the devices is halved in a 16bit slot. Video and SCSI really should go into a 32-bit slot, the network card being 10Mbit doesn't benefit as much and can go into a 16-bit slot. IBM's SCSI cards use non-standard connectors for cables, buying the adapters/cables gets expensive compared to just getting a card that has standard SCSI ports to begin with.
 
Thanks for clearing that up.

Could someone then confirm that the following would work:

1) This network card in the 16 bit slot. Note the pins appear to be different to the way the 16-bit slot looks. The slot has 1 separator in the middle, while the card appears to have 2 notches

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-FRU-48G...71361?pt=US_Server_Boards&hash=item53f35ef1e1

2) This XGA card in slot 2

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-87F4774...299?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item3cd5b3312b

3) Since it is not suggested that I use the IBM SCI, and the Adaptec one is only 16-bit, would this NCR one work

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NCR-5300035...84406?pt=US_Server_Boards&hash=item41705c7f96

and if so.... does that mean this DUAL NCR would work

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NCR-5300035...69399?pt=US_Server_Boards&hash=item53f43c2ad7



Thanks again.
 
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The NCR cards all have the 53C700 chip which is only 5MB/sec SCSI, no real benefit to having it in a 32-bit slot to begin with unless you are using both SCSI channels. The Adaptec AHA-1640 enjoys wide driver support among various OSes, plus the ADFs are readily available. Compared to the ancient hard drives these machines came with, anything you attach to the SCSI card is going to exhibit a big speed boost.
 
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