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QDI P5I430VX 250DM Explorer II Turbo Switch?

T

TomL_12953

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I have a QDI P5I430VX 250DM Explorer II SpeedStep motherboard with a 233MHz Pentium MMX processor and 128Mb EDO RAM. On it there's a connector for a Turbo LED but there's no connector for a Turbo switch and no instructions in the manual on how to activate turbo mode.

I've looked through the BIOS (3.5S, the latest) and don't see any way to activate a turbo mode. I'm stumped.
Can anyone tell me exactly what this turbo mode is and how to activate it? The only manual I have is for the non-SpeedStep version.
If you have a manual specific to the SpeedStep motherboard, I'd appreciate a copy!

TIA!

Tom Lake
 
You could try... CTRL ALT + and CTRL ALT - as they are fairly commonly used for this.

FWIW, you're not likely to see much, if any difference when using Turbo on this board.
 
As far as I have seen it was not uncommon for Pentium pc's from that period to come with a digital display. The turbo led pins on the motherboard feed the display but that is all there is to it - it is purely a decorative thingy.
There are Pentium motherboards from that period that do have pins for a turbo button. A Jetway board that I have here is designed like that. There is however no difference in performance (tested with several benchmark utilities) between turbo on versus turbo off except that in turbo on mode the turbo led display lights up.
There were even PSU's in that time period with an extra 5 volt wire to feed digital display's in case the motherboard did not supply such. When connected the display is on full time - as it would be in your setup.
It is just a gimmick.
 
PARKE said:
It is just a gimmick.
Click to expand...

Totally my understanding as well. I've personally never owned a new or used 486 or Pentium where the turbo button actually did anything. Clock speed would remain the same whether it was on or off. Its basically just an on/off switch for the amber LED.
 
486 is another issue; these often do work but do not directly change the clockspeed in many cases. Some slow down de speed via fiddling with for example the cache or memory speed - my own 486 Biostar slows down that way and it makes a huge difference.
The 'original' turbo switching was addressing clock speed but that was in the 286 period changing from 8Mhz to 16Mhz as far as I know.
 
Thanks to everyone who responded! Now I don't have to stay awake nights wondering what that #%^@! light is for! (I lead a quiet life!)

Tom L
 
'Quiet life' is a relative connotation when you indulge in retro computers ;-)
 
My PCChips M571 has both a Turbo LED and Turbo Switch header. I've yet to test it (as the case doesn't have either, YET), but I will be testing it in the next few weeks to see if it chops the clock down for those fun old DOS games.
 
If your case has a turbo switch, you can connect it to the inboard jumper which changes the bus speed, so you can obtain a real turbo by overclocking ;)
 
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